Shakira quotes Madeleine Albright to shade her ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend

Shakira thinks “there’s a place in hell” for women who don’t support themselves.

Those comments may have been aimed at Clara Chia Martí, who recently went Instagram official with Shakira’s ex-boyfriend Gerard Piqué – the retired footballer who shares two children with the superstar singer and allegedly cheated on her afterwards 11 years of attendance.

“What else did Madeline Albright, the US Secretary of State, say, in a phrase I love?” Shakira told Enrique Acevedo of Mexican outlet Canal Estrellas, in a Spanish-language interview published on Monday. “She said there’s a place in hell for women who don’t support other women.” And yes, I completely agree. (Albright, who died in 2022, used the phrase many times over the years, though she acknowledged there are contexts in which it doesn’t always apply.)

“I’ve always been very dependent, emotionally, on men, I have to admit, and I’ve been in love with love,” Shakira told Acevedo, according to a HuffPost translation. “I think I managed to understand this story from a different point of view and I feel, today, that I am self-sufficient.”

The “Hips Don’t Lie” singer has certainly had a rough few months.

She not only saw the 2018 tax evasion charges turn into real charges, but watched her partner leave for another woman. Shakira, who has since released brutal breakup songs about Pique, said she “always felt compelled to use my voice and lend it to those who can’t speak”.

“I too bought this story that a woman needs a man to complete her and a family,” Shakira told Acevedo. “I too had this dream of having a family in which the children have a father and a mother under the same roof. Not all dreams in life come true.”

“But life finds another way to compensate you,” she continued. “And I think with me, that more than made up for it with these two great, wonderful kids who fill me with love every day.”

Shakira and Pique, who officially retired from football in November, first announced their separation in a joint statement in June. The two asked for privacy for the sake of their children, Milan, 10, and Sasha, 8. Shakira told Acevedo that she has since gotten stronger.

When Acevedo suggested that Shakira didn’t feel personally fulfilled despite her success in music and philanthropic endeavors, the singer pushed back.

“Well, listen, now – paradoxically – yes, I feel complete,” she said. “Because I feel like I depend on myself, and on top of that I have two kids who depend on me. So I have to be stronger than a lioness. But like I said, that strength, for that it is real and not a sham, must be a force that is the result of experiencing pain, of accepting it, of understanding – of tolerating frustration.

“Because there are things in life that don’t turn out the way you wanted,” she continued. “Shattering dreams. And you have to pick up the little pieces from the ground and build them back together. And I have to be an example to my sons of ‘You can’, that you can survive those battles in life.

Shakira reportedly grew suspicious of Pique after finding his strawberry jam eaten, knowing that neither Pique nor his children liked it. The singer appeared to reference the discovery in the video for her 2022 song “Te Felicito” (“I Congratulate You”).

“When a woman has to face the battles of life, she comes out stronger,” Shakira told Acevedo. “And when you come out of it stronger, you’ve learned to understand your own weaknesses, to accept your vulnerabilities, to express how it feels and the pain that comes with it – because, as they say, the opposite of depression is the phrase.”

“I think I’ve come to feel like I’m enough,” she added, “which is something I never thought I could happen.”

Watch the full interview in Spanish on YouTube.