Shakira Broke Her Silence About Her Sick Father With One Sentence, and the Media Can't Even Agree Whether He's in Hospital

Shakira stayed silent for days, and the media spoke in her place. In the early hours of Monday, 9 November, she said her first sentence: "Thank you all for the messages full of love in this difficult week. My family and I are deeply grateful." Nothing more. The reason is the health of her father, William Mebarak, who is 95 and, according to sources, in a very delicate condition.

Six days ago an American TV show reported that Mebarak had been admitted to a clinic in Barranquilla, Colombia, and that Shakira was by his side. A Colombian radio station claimed the opposite: he is not in hospital but at home, with his closest family, on his regular therapy. Two contradictory versions, and the singer confirmed neither.

Mebarak has been through a series of health problems in recent years. In 2022 he had a bad fall, in 2023 he had a shunt fitted in his brain because of hydrocephalus, in 2024 he had pneumonia, and on 2 May this year he ended up in intensive care after an ischaemic episode. Each time he pulled through, and each time Shakira was by his side. For his 90th birthday she wrote that he was her best friend and inspiration.

All this is happening just a month after she finished her Madrid residency: 13 concerts in a venue built especially for the purpose, Macondo Park, with the last night on 12 October. Back then she admitted on stage that that month had been hard too because of her father's health. Her friend Carlos Vives said he is by her side, because he went through something similar.

The family is asking for silence, and most of the celebrity world lives off not granting it. Maybe, for a change, Shakira's one sentence is enough.