BARCELONA – Colombian music superstar Shakira and Spanish footballer Gerard Pique have reached an agreement over the custody of their two children following their breakup, their representatives said on Tuesday.
The 45-year-old singer plans to move to Miami in the United States with the couple’s two sons and Pique, 35, will have them for 10 days each month plus during school holidays, the footballer’s lawyer Ramon Tamborero said.
“It is not that one has won and another has lost, if anyone won, it has been the children,” he said after the conclusion of the custody negotiations which lasted months.
In a surprise move, Pique last week announced he was retiring from football.
The FC Barcelona defender broke down in tears on Saturday during a farewell speech at his final game at the club’s Camp Nou stadium. He also kicked a ball around on the pitch with his sons Milan, nine, and Sasha, seven.
“We have signed an agreement that guarantees the well-being of our children and that it will be ratified in court,” Shakira’s representative said in a message jointly signed by the singer and Pique.
“Our sole objective is to provide them with the greatest security and protection, and we trust that their privacy will be respected,” the statement added, without providing further details.
Shakira and Pique announced their romantic relationship in 2011 but never married.
They met during the filming of the video for her infectious Waka Waka, the official song of the 2010 World Cup, in which Pique made an appearance.
The couple, who had been living together for years on the outskirts of Barcelona, announced in June that they were separating.
Shakira, one of the biggest names in the global music industry, is facing trial in Spain for allegedly defrauding the tax office of €14.5 million (S$20.4 million) on income earned between 2012 and 2014.
The Hips Don’t Lie (2006) singer told Elle magazine in September that the combination of her looming tax fraud trial, separation from Pique and her father’s illness meant this was “the most difficult, darkest hours of my life”. AFP
