Shakira Calls Spain’s Tax Agency ‘Machista’: 5 Things We Learned From Her Op-Ed

One year after she agreed to a deal with Spanish authorities to settle her $15 million for tax fraud case, Shakira is telling her side of the story.

In an over 1,000-word op-ed published in the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, the Colombian singer penned strong declarations about her war with Spain’s tax agency.

“In 2023, I lived surrounded by cameras anxiously waiting to show the world how I was breaking down,” she writes. “No one missed a single detail: the tax court trial, the media divorce… It was too juicy a show to pass up. But the most frustrating thing was seeing that a state institution seemed more interested in publicly burning me at the stake than in listening to my reasons. Well, I think the time has come to give them.”

In November 2023, after maintaining her innocence for five years, Shakira accepted a last-minute agreement, confirming her acknowledgement of six counts of failing to pay the Spanish government about $15.8 million in taxes between 2012 and 2014. Under the agreement, she received a suspended three-year sentence and paid a $7.6 million fine, according to The Associated Press.

Throughout the letter, the global Latin artist — known for hits such as “Hips Don’t Lie,” “Whenever, Wherever,” and “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)” — clarifies her intentions on traveling to the European country, why she reached an agreement with the prosecution in the first place and why she’s sharing her truth now. “Just like my songs, I sing to be able to live peacefully again, to turn the page,” she notes.

Below, see five things we learned from Shak’s personal op-ed: