Shakira, Pique announce split after 11-year relationship

Barcelona defender, Gerard Pique and Colombian superstar, Shakira have announced they were calling off their 11-year relationship.

“We regret to confirm that we are separating,” Pique and Shakira said in a statement.

“For the well-being of our children, who are our top priority, we are asking for respect for their privacy. Thank you for your understanding,” the statement added. They share two sons and had been living together for years on the outskirts of Barcelona.

Their split-up is coming just over a week after Spanish court documents inched Shakira closer to standing trial in Spain for tax Fraud after a Barcelona court dismissed an appeal from the singer.

Spanish prosecutors accused her of defrauding the Spanish tax office out of 14.5 million euros ($15.5 million) on income earned between 2012 and 2014.

They say she moved to Spain in 2011 when her relationship with Pique became public but maintained official tax residency in the Bahamas until 2015.

Her defence lawyers say she moved to Spain full time only in 2015 and insist that her “conduct on tax matters has always been impeccable in all the countries she had to pay taxes”.