Shakira Blames Ex-Boyfriend Gerard Piqué for 'Dragging' Her 'Down' During 11-Year Relationship: 'Now I'm Free'

Shakira is celebrating her single status!

During the chart-topper's Monday, March 25, appearance on The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon candidly asked Shakira, 47, why she hadn't made a full-length album in over seven years — something she blamed ex-boyfriend Gerard Piqué for!

"I was putting out songs here and there, but it was really hard for me to put together a body of work," the "Hips Don't Lie" singer explained. "It was the husband. Now I'm husband-less. The husband was dragging me down. Now I'm free. Now I can actually work. Women no longer cry. It's men's turn now."

"For too long we have been sent to cry with a script in our hands and without an end just because we are women," she told the late-night host, 49. "We have to conceal our pain in front of our kids, in front of society. We have to heal in a certain way. And I don't think anyone is supposed to tell us how to heal. No one is supposed to tell a She-wolf how to lick her wounds."

Shakira also opened up about channeling the emotions of her 2022 split from the athlete, 37, in her new body of music.

"I was raw," the superstar admitted. "I was dealing with a lot of stuff. I felt, at times, like I had a knife between my teeth. I was picking up the pieces of myself from the floor. I was trying to rebuild myself. Music was the glue. I was transforming pain and anger and frustration into creativity, productivity, and resilience."

The "She Wolf" singer recently threw more shade at her former partner, with whom she shares sons Milan, 11, and Sasha, 9, when talking about how she's grown since their relationship ended.

"It was kind of like a sometimes a love-hate relationship because every time I had to be pulled into the studio to do my work, I failed," she said in a recent interview. "I felt that I was leaving my family unattended. There were times when I really didn't enjoy it. You know, I felt guilt. I felt torn."

Never miss a story — sign up for the OK! newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what OK! has to offer. It’s gossip too good to wait for!

"In a way, it's kind of good not to have a husband because that…I don't know why it was dragging me down, man," she noted of the change. "Now I feel like working. I feel like writing songs. I feel like making music. It's a compulsive need of mine that I didn't feel before."