Shakira has shared her pride that she ‘succeeded on her own terms’ and ‘always tried to be unafraid through my career’ as she covers the November issue of Cosmopolitan magazine.
The 44-year-old poses in a plunging silver bodysuit on the front of the magazine, where she admitted that she is ‘constantly doubting myself’ but has always made sure she ‘genuinely believes’ in what she is doing in her career.
But while Cosmpolitan’s cover line lauds her as ‘the country’s most Googled pop star,’ they couldn’t have predicted that so many of the searches for Shakira this week would revolve around her finances.
The Colombian songstress is among several famous names linked to the unprecedented Pandora Papers leak, which has revealed how the super wealthy used offshore companies to accrue wealth and make transactions.
The papers claim Shakira set up offshore entities in the British Virgin Islands to conceal assets — though her lawyers have insisted that she declared the offshore companies, adding that they did not provide tax advantages.
Did it her way! The 44-year-old has shared her pride that she ‘succeeded on her own terms’ and ‘always tried to be unafraid through my career’
Shakira certainly looks like a million bucks in her shoot for Cosmo, in which she models several shiny bodysuits with statement-making belts.
In another shot, she poses on an exercise bike in a metallic blue Solid & Striped one-piece, cinched with a Lidow Archive vintage belt and accessorized with Giuseppe Zanotti booties.
Speaking to the magazine, Shakira shared how important it was that she stuck to her guns in her career.
‘I’m the type of person who really needs to genuinely believe in what I do or I’d rather pass,’ she said. ‘I’m proud of having succeeded on my own terms.
‘I’m always trying to be unafraid through my career,’ she added. ‘I’ve had a great fan base that has been so loyal.’
Uh-oh! The star’s name was found among those in the Pandora Papers, a leak of private financial documents that tie several wealthy people including world leaders to off-shore tax-avoidance schemes
Certainly some of her fans seem unconcerned this week that her name was found among those in the Pandora Papers, a leak of private financial documents that tie several wealthy people including world leaders to off-shore tax-avoidance schemes. 
According to the documents, Shakira — along with Elton John, Ringo Starr, Claudia Schiffer, and others — all set up companies in territories known as tax havens, including the British Virgin Islands, Panama, and the Bahamas.
The companies can allow people to hide money and pay less in taxes.
However, Shakira’s lawyer said that she denies any wrongdoing, adding that she claimed her Bahamian properties on her taxes.
But the Hips Don’t Lie hitmaker is already in a legal wrangle with the Spanish government, which has accused her of failing to pay taxes in Spain from 2011 to 2014.
Shakira has previously said that during those years she lived in the Bahamas and was not a resident of Spain, only visiting the country ‘sporadically.’
She’s already in a legal wrangle with the Spanish government, which has accused her of failing to pay taxes in Spain from 2011 to 2014 when she moved to live with her partner, Gerard Piqué
While she is alleged to have moved to Spain in 2011 when her relationship with footballer Gerard Pique was made public, prosecutors claim she maintained her official tax residency in the Bahamas until 2015 when she started paying taxes in Spain.
A Spanish judge ruled in July there was ‘sufficient evidence’ to try her for evading more than £12 million in taxes. The pop singer is expected to insist she has done no wrong if she does not reach a last-minute deal with state prosecutors and has to take the stand.
Meanwhile, Shakira opened up about other matters in her Cosmo interview, including the trying time in 2017 when she suffered a hemorrhage of her right vocal cord.
‘In that darkest hour of my life, I realized how lucky I was. All those people gave me everything I needed to heal. And I healed,’ she said.
‘I cried every single day while my voice was gone. I never thought how important having a voice was until I lost it. I never stopped thanking my voice when it was back.’
Shakira also admitted that despite her on-stage persona, she suffers from self-doubt just like everyone else.
Just a regular person! Shakira also admitted that despite her on-stage persona, she suffers from self-doubt just like everyone else
‘I was like, “Why are journalists asking me about drug trafficking? My country’s so much more than that,”‘ she went on.
‘I feel really touched by everything that’s been happening with Black Lives Matter and proud of young people today — how they’re not willing to take the s***. That’s one of the advantages of technology. People can really speak up and be heard.
‘I wonder sometimes what would happen if a media outlet said similar things about me today. Back then, the gatekeepers could get away with stuff like that.’