ALTHOUGH they're usually referred to in the media as 'husband' and 'wife', pop-rocker Shakira and FC Barcelona's Gerard Piqué are not actually married – despite having been together over nine years and having two children in common.
Fans have often wondered why the celebrity couple have never tied the knot – or assumed they had done so on the quiet already.
But the Colombian-born singer revealed all during an interview on the USA television show 60 Minutes.
“Marriage scares me,” said Shakira, 42.
This seemed a strange response, given that she and the Barça midfielder, 32, are all but married anyway, and live in Spain's second-largest city with their two sons, Milan and Sasha.
But what 'scares' the artist is complacency on both sides, it seems.
“I don't want him to see me as his 'wife'. I want him to see me as his 'girlfriend'. It's like forbidden fruit – it keeps him on his toes, thinking that anything could happen depending upon how he behaves.”
She gave the interview during the presentation of singers – of whom she is one - who will be performing live at half-time during the Superbowl, which starts on Sunday, February 2 and will keep Americans worldwide glued to their TV screens round the clock.
Shakira and Piqué met during the FIFA World Cup in South Africa in 2010, for which Shakira performed the theme song, Waka Waka.
At the time, she was just coming out of an 11-year relationship with Argentine ex-president's son Antonio de la Rúa, whom she always maintained she would never marry either, even though she was expecting to be with him for the rest of her life.
