Shakira has revealed her young sons ‘hated’ the Barbie movie and branded the Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling blockbuster ’emasculating’. Speaking to Allure, the Grammy Award winner, 47, said her boys – Milan, 11, and Sasha, nine, slated Greta Gerwig’s Oscar-nominated flick, and she didn’t hold back in her own critique of the movie.
‘They felt that it was emasculating,’ said Shakira. ‘And I agree, to a certain extent. I’m raising two boys. I want ’em to feel powerful too [while] respecting women.’
Shakira continued, ‘I like pop culture when it attempts to empower women without robbing men of their possibility to be men, to also protect and provide. ‘I believe in giving women all the tools and the trust that we can do it all without losing our essence, without losing our femininity,’ she said.
The She Wolf artist explained, ‘I think that men have a purpose in society and women have another purpose as well. ‘We complement each other, and that complement should not be lost.’ Starring Margot Robbie as the eponymous doll, the movie followed Barbie and Ken (Ryan Gosling) on an existential journey to the real world.
Barbie grossed $1.4 billion worldwide and earned a Best Song win at the 96th Academy Awards for Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell’s ‘What Was I Made For?’. The movie received seven other nominations, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.
America Ferrera was also nominated for Best Supporting Actress after her character Gloria’s heartfelt monologue about the impossible struggles of being a woman. There has been a wave of criticism – particularly from conservative figures – over what some describe as the film’s ‘anti-man’ agenda.
Billionaire Tesla owner Elon Musk, who is known for being outspoken and often aligns himself with conservative viewpoints, hinted he wasn’t a fan of the message of the film. ‘It [sic] you take a shot every time Barbie says the word “patriarchy”, you will pass out before the movie ends,’ Musk said on Twitter in response to a meme.
He is not alone in taking issue with the girl power message and how the film portrays male and female relationships. Conservative commentator Lauren Chen has shared a barrage of content, slamming what she called the film’s ‘insidious man-hating message’.
The BlazeTV host also accused studios of hiding how ‘INSUFFERABLY WOKE’ the film would be in its promotional material. The wife of Florida Representative Matt Gaetz also called for a boycott of the movie over its disappointing ‘feminine empowerment’ and a ‘lack of faith and family’.
Shakira also discussed her split from Piqué, 37, and how it influenced her new album Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran (Women No Longer Cry). ‘I was in the mud,’ she explained. ‘I had to reconstruct myself, to reunite all the pieces that had fallen apart.’ She and the Spanish soccer star began dating in 2011, before announcing their split in June 2022.