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For singers, their voice is one of the only tools they have to work with. In 2017, Shakira suffered quite a bad haemorrhage in her vocal cords and it quickly became clear that if she wanted to keep her voice, she would need to take care of herself first. Therefore, the singer was told to stop singing.
Shakira was put on a speaking ban
When nothing else had worked, the mother of two was told to stop singing and speaking and had to rely on just using hand signals to communicate instead. This was quite a difficult time for her because most people couldn’t understand what she wanted or was asking for from her hand signals.
Even her children, Milan and Sasha, were too young to understand why their mother wasn’t speaking anymore or how they could help her because they were just four and two years old at the time.
‘I always thought there were going to be things in my life that would go away, like beauty, youth, all that stuff. But I never thought that my voice would leave me.’
She barely left her bed
This speaking ban led Shakira to fall into a stage of depression like many other stars, including Selena Gomez, have suffered from. She was frustrated that nobody could understand her, and she barely left her bed. Even things with her husband Gerard Piqué weren’t going well at the time and the two were fighting more than when Shakira was still able to speak.
‘He jokes that you would think you would want your wife to shut up – but when I had to remain quiet, he felt like one of those ex-convicts who are given their freedom and don’t know what to do with it. I was not positive. I was so pessimistic. I was a bitter person to be around.’
Consequential marital problems
Shakira said that her husband saw the worst side of her during this time. According to her, she was very pessimistic about everything and very bitter.
The superstar decided that things couldn’t go on like this. Doctors suggested she have vocal cord surgery, but according to The Guardian, Shakira was far from enthusiastic about the idea of an operation.
‘I needed surgery – or divine intervention’
Since the Catholic singer is very religious, she thought it would be a good idea to travel to Lourdes and drink water directly from the source at the pilgrimage site.
Although it might sound like a miracle, Shakira actually did better after this visit to the sanctuary and she was able to continue with her tour, which will soon feature in a film in cinemas. She will also be performing alongside Jennifer Lopez during the halftime break of the upcoming Super Bowl. So, fans can still look forward to more news and performances from the singer.
