Shakira reveals her sons ‘hated’ the movie ‘Barbie’: ‘They felt that it was emasculating. And I agree, to a certain extent’

Shakira doesn’t often give interviews or make statements, so when she does, they always receive a lot of attention. The singer — who has been living in Miami with her children, Milan and Sasha for a year after separating from Gerard Piqué — released her first album in seven years on March 22: Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran (Women No Longer Cry), which marks an important step forward in her professional and personal life.

Shakira has been talking to the media to promote the album, and on April 1, she appeared on the front cover of the U.S. edition of Allure. In addition to the photo session, she sat down to chat for a long interview where she discussed different topics, from her image (“I didn’t think beauty was my forte. I thought it was just one more thing that I could exploit”) and new life in Miami (“I had to reconstruct myself, to reunite all the pieces that had fallen apart”), to her music, creativity, hair products (she created a specific line for her indomitable hair) and why it’s “refreshing” for women to get to be unapologetic. And, on the question of feminism, she was asked what she thought about last year’s blockbuster movie Barbie. Her response has sparked a wave of comments.

Shakira tells the magazine that she understands that, by the year 2030, 60% of the world’s wealth will be managed by women (a fact from a 2020 report by the consulting firm McKinsey). Following the comment, she is asked if she has seen Barbie. Shakira replies: “I watched it, yeah,” which is followed by a long pause. When prompted for more information, she says: “My sons absolutely hated it. They felt that it was emasculating. And I agree, to a certain extent.”

The Greta Gerwig movie grossed more than $1.4 billion, making it the highest-grossing movie of 2023 and also in Warner’s history. It was nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Song, which it won.

“I’m raising two boys,” Shakira continues, referring to Milan, 11, and Sasha, nine. “I want them to feel powerful too [while] respecting women. I like pop culture when it attempts to empower women without robbing men of their possibility to be men, to also protect and provide. I believe in giving women all the tools and the trust that we can do it all without losing our essence, without losing our femininity. I think that men have a purpose in society and women have another purpose as well. We complement each other, and that complement should not be lost.”

When asked, “Just because a woman can do it all doesn’t mean she should?” Shakira replies: “Why not share the load with people who deserve to carry it, who have a duty to carry it as well?”

Throughout the interview, the singer makes several statements about women, her personal journey and how society has changed. For example, she says: “Creating this album has been a transformation in which I have been reborn as a woman. I have rebuilt myself in the ways I believe are appropriate. No one tells me how to cry or when to cry, no one tells me how to raise my children, no one tells me how I become a better version of myself. I decide that.”

She then says: “In the past, when women went through a difficult situation, they were expected to mind their manners, to hide the pain, to cry in silence. That’s over. Now, no one will control us. No one will tell us how to heal, how to clean our wounds.”

Before adding: “Eve was a story created by misogynists to put women in the little box where we have to remain silent, not speak our minds, and not be a catalyst for change. To keep things as they are.” “I think there’s something refreshing about women when they get to be themselves and be unapologetic. Because we’ve had to apologize so many damn times in the past.”

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