Shakira has been slammed with a lawsuit from her ex-fiancé and former manager, Antonio de la Rúa.
A lawyer for the Colombian singer’s ex-boyfriend says the pop superstar didn’t leave his client any other option but to file a New York lawsuit to demand she pay him $100 million in compensation for managing her career. He’d been threatening to file the lawsuit for months.
William T. Reid IV says De la Rúa tried to talk to Shakira about what he’s owed but the Colombian singer refused. Reid said Monday his client “didn’t really want to do this.”
De la Rúa is the son of former Argentine President Fernando de la Rúa. He dated Shakira for more than a decade, and they split last year. He filed the lawsuit Nov. 20.
Shakira’s representative at the public relations company 42West and her attorneys at the law firm Fox Horan & Camerini LPP haven’t responded to requests for comment.
Back in September, rumors were swirling that De la Rúa would file a lawsuit against Shakira for $250 million, but when asked about the claim De la Rúa denied it.
But friends said the heart-shattered De la Rúa was seeking “compensation” after he abandoned his career as a publicist to become her manager when they began dating over a decade ago, according to the Mexican newspaper El Universal. They called it quits in 2010.
Shortly after the breakup, Shakira hooked up with Spanish soccer star Gerard Piqué.
La Razón newspaper said back in September that De la Rúa was seeking 18 percent of all the profits Shakira made during the time they were dating because he played a major role in helping her secure multi-million dollar contracts and deals that made her a wealthy superstar.
He also has said he helped Shakira land her current deal with Live Nation/Sony, which will release her next three albums.
De la Rúa, who also co-owns philanthropic initiatives with Shakira such as her Pies Descalzos, has been trying to keep the property the two own together — a house in Uruguay and an apartment in New York City.
One of Shakira’s attorneys says the songstress is not obligated to give De la Rúa any money due to a financial agreement the two signed when they were still together.
Shakira’s former employees also filed a lawsuit against her in September.
She ended up countersuing after the disgruntled employees threatened to divulge details of her private life unless she paid them money, Colombian press reported this summer. [FOX]