Here are some photos of Shakira at her perfume launch last month in Paris. Notice that she is wearing leather pants after having given birth in late January to her first child, a baby boy named Milan. I’m always struck by Shakira’s offbeat beauty, but I just have to say that I miss her as a brunette. She looks so much better with her natural hair color than that straw-colored mess that she’s been sporting for the past handful of years. Go back to brown, Shakira!
As part of a recent NBC promotion where Shakira was in attendance as part of “The Voice” judging panel, Shakira talked a lot to Us Weekly about how how reality as a mother compares to her expectations. Naturally, the subject of post-baby bodies came up too, and here are some excerpts:
On the reality of a baby: “I didn’t expect babies to need so many diapers! Nobody told me they needed to be changed so often! I mean he’s a great, great baby. He’s an easy one, I think. But nobody told me it would be this hard. It takes a lot of energy from you. But I love it, I’m really enjoying every bit of it. It’s just that it’s not as idyllic as everybody tells you, but also not as horrible as everyone tells you.”
On getting her pre-baby body back: “I mean, I guess our mothers and grandmothers weren’t under the pressure that women of today are after delivering a baby. My dad says that there’s nothing better than a little meat on the bone! He likes my mom a little chubby. So she was never under the pressure to get back to her old weight, and she never did, actually! But it’s different, I have a career, and that’s the only part that’s been a bit stressful because I knew that I’d have to come back here to do ‘The Voice’ two months after I delivered a baby. I didn’t have my four months maternity like every woman on earth has. So I’m not trying to complain, but it’s been a process full of challenges in my life. I’m still a few pounds over! Zumba has been pretty great for me even during pregnancy. I did it almost until the end.”
Balancing motherhood & work: “Thank God the father is very involved. He has been amazing. The baby spends as much time with me as he does with his dad. He’s the kind of dad who’s full hands on. He changes diapers, he bathes him, he enjoys playing with the baby, he enjoys feeding him, all of that stuff. So that’s great help for me, you know. I can’t imagine doing all of this and not having the father do his part of the job. So that’s a huge help to me.”
[From Us Weekly]
First off, I think that “four months of maternity” is a myth … at least in the United States. Twelve years ago, I got six weeks paid leave in my then-salaried job, but I could have chosen to take up to three full months at incrementally lower percentages of pay as the time passed. Is that how it still works? I don’t plan on having any more kids, so it shall remain a mystery to me. One kiddo is enough for my attention span, thank you very much.
As for Shakira “complaining but not complaining” about how soon she returned to work after giving birth, well, that was totally her choice. Nobody made her sign onto replace Christina Aguilera last September when she was already four or five months pregnant. Shakira is a multi-millionare already, so she could quit working right now and have enough money to live on forever. Obviously, she wants to work, but I’m not going to feel sorry for her at all for voluntarily starting a new gig immediately after becoming a first-time mother.
Photos courtesy of WENN
In Sweden we get a year. 🙂
Wow! That’s amazing. Really. I’m in the U.S. I got 12 weeks FMLA, but had to use what was left of my (paid) vacation time as part of the 12 weeks. The remaining time was unpaid. So I think I got paid for about 6 days. I was fortunate that we had some money saved up. This is not standard for every woman. A lot of women go back after 6-8 weeks.
Here in Canada, we get a year too. I’m actually just finishing mat leave right now, going back to work early June 🙁
That’s horrible! We have it good here, even the men/women/other partner gets time off so both parties can be home the first time and bond with the baby. It’s great!
At my company in London we get 9 months full pay plus all annual leave accrued during that time (and public holidays) so it ends up being about 11 months full pay. Men get 4 weeks paid paternity. Having said that my company has the most generous policy I know!
No comment on Shakira, as I don’t know much at all about her. Just a big CIAO to Pia – that’s my daughter’s name!
The U.S. is really behind on this. Where I work, I believe men get two weeks, women get 8 but if you are an hourly employee you only get 75% of pay. At least that is what it used to be. If you adopt it’s two weeks.
Yeah and Vacation isn’t mandatory as it is in many European countries. One is lucky to get two weeks. The U.S needs to step up on these things!
And I agree that no one forced this millionaire to go back to work. So yes it sounds like complaining and I really don’t feel bad for her.
As a salaried employee I had the option of 3 months ML, but none of it was paid. The only benefit or privilege was being able to return to my old position after the leave.
6 weeks for a vaginal delivery 8 for a c-section 60% of pay at my job that’s it I was born in Germany imcashingnin my dual citizenship and I’m moving to europe
Just a quick point…
In all of the talk about what the US does, it is important to remember that there are federal laws but also state laws. I believe some states allow women more paid time off than others.
In Canada, we also get 1 year. I took 6 months at my full salary.
12 weeks in America, and 12 months here. It’s crazy!
In France it’s 3 months after the birth with usually 2 months before the birth (can depend on your job)
I’m surprised Shakira is so clueless (diapers, maternity leave …)
3 months at my American organization but if you have Aflac Insurance you can take an extra 3 months and Aflac will pay you while you’re out.
Erinn
That 12 weeks in America isn’t standard. My husbands cousin saved all her vacation, sick, personal + maternity leave days for a year and it only came to 5 weeks paid leave 3weeks personal days. After that her job wasn’t all that secure as a radiologist. And as beautiful as her baby girl was then she had some health issues. Ugh. This is not the country to have children in..:(
I’m just curious- why exactly does a company owe you months or a year off with pay because you decide to have a baby? I totally understand not being fired from your job while you take leave to have a baby. However, you are not working, why do you DESERVE to be paid? I mean of course anyone would LIKE to get paid. It’s nice to get paid while not working, but why does anyone OWE it to you? Seriously I would like to understand this mindset. I simply don’t get it.
Ok but let’s be clear. In Canada we “get” a year, but in most jobs it is a year unpaid (you can go on what is essentially our welfare program). Unless you are a union or government employee. So a year off is great but no $$$ makes it quite tough to actually take it.
Ok but let’s be clear. In Canada we “get” a year, but in most jobs it is a year unpaid (you can go on what is essentially our welfare program). Unless you are a union or government employee. So a year off is great but no income makes it quite tough to actually take it.
That’s effing crazy. FMLA is for 12 weeks, and ALL it does is keep them from giving your job to someone else. You can combine with vacation but, that’s the only way you will get paid. I took off two months. I was blessed to have moved back in with my parents (two-fold: I lost my high-paying job at 5 mos preggo), but with the chump change I was making at Wal-Mart it didnt really make much of a difference. I had enough money for diapers and clothes, and her medical was covered at least.
Yeah, 6 wks here, FLMA didn’t cover us because we were too small an organization. I would’ve loved anything more than that, but as I am the main bill payer in the family, couldn’t afford to do anything more than that. I spent a lot of time in the bathroom pumping those first couple years, as well as up a good portion of the night with the baby/toddler – don’t know how I managed now, especially with no caffeine! (She didn’t sleep as it was, I figured I’d better not make it any worse!) So jealous of people who get/can take off more.
I got 6 weeks paid and 6 weeks unpaid for FMLA from my company — and considered myself lucky as FMLA doesn’t require a company to provide any compensation at all.
My mom came for a month to babysit, so my son went into daycare at 4 months. That was painfully young to be away from mom I think — and many of my friends have had to put kids in daycare at 6 weeks or younger. I took 6 weeks without pay on the chin, but it’s not a great time to go without any income when you have a new child.
I had a friend who taught at a university (in a state where unions are illegal), and her boss benevolently told her that he’d give her a week off when her son was born. “Lucky” for her she needed an emergency C-section and medical leave kicked in so she could recover.
As a nation, the US hasn’t figured out that an investment in children is an investment in society. Long before I thought about becoming a parent myself — I still supported any educational or social initiative that supports children because it promotes the common good.
Our beloved USA is a very misogynistic country.
Wow!
In australia we have paid parental leave and 6-7 months off.
Same here in Ireland, and paternity leave is 4-6 weeks. Paid.
Can’t believe the US is so cold about maternity leave of all things!
What? 6-7 months off? An employer has to legally provide 12 months unpaid maternity leave in Australia.
We get 18 weeks of paid maternity leave provided by the federal government (at minimum wage almost $600pw before tax) and employers can also provider additional paid maternity or other bonuses on top. They’ve just started 2 weeks of paid ‘daddy leave’ too.
Just further proof that Scandanavian, Canada and Oz are more civilized. Mothers are treated like criminals in the U.S.
Yup the US sucks. I’m a part time student/part time worker in the service industry making $8 an hour and i also happen to be pregnant. I get no paid sick days or vacation, no insurance becausd i’m only part time worker. My mom cant put me on her insurance because i am only a part time student (9 credit hours instead of 12). As far as maternity leave when this baby comes, who knows. I dont know what Az law says but i know that my job would probably rather fire me then pay for someone who isnt there, considering you cant get a raise past $8 per hour and you are written up if you get over time. USA, USA!
and U.S. parents get to write off their offspring & get eternal tax breaks, while non-breeders get to pay more so they can all go to crap public school right? yay.
And the very people in Congress who fought against even the Family Leave bill are the same ones who call themselves the Family Values contingent. They seem to care way more about fetuses then they do about actual children!
The thing that blows my mind is the low minimum wage in the US (which hardly ever goes up), plus the even lower wages for service workers.
The cost of living, housing etc. in Australia is ridiculous, but you rarely see people working in more than one job.
It’s horrible that so many US workers can have multiple jobs and still not be able to make ends meet… especially if you are relying on tips to pay the rent!
In norway its a year also, and fathers get a ridiculous amount of time as well….my mother in law moved here from norway when she was 21 and couldn’t believe how little time we get here. I don’t have children (yet) but it scares me what will happen after those 12 weeks since we dont have family nearby…I can’t imagine having to put an infant in daycare though I know it happens all too often.
Save, save, save your money now so you don’t have to do that later. For me, it was better to have a smaller house, an economy car, etc so I could stay home with my babies. There’s plenty of time later for a career.
Wonder Woman-
I believe with Obamacare, your parents can insure you until the age of 26. It does not matter if you are a full time student. Please investigate this further and good luck to you.
Where I’m from, we very recently upped to 4 months and companies were whining about it. 4 months is seen as generous and an unnecessary luxury.
Which is why I’m moving out of this place in two months!
We get more than 1 year in Sweden, you have the right to stay at home until your baby is 18 months old. 390 days you get 80% of your wage, (these are called sick pay days) and then you have an additional 90 days with minimum wage (approximately 30 dollars a day), all before taxes which in most cases are between 25-30% of the salary. When the child is born the father gets 10 days with 80% of his salary. 60 days of the 390 sick pay days are reserved for each parent, the rest can be divided as you please. It’s common that the mother maybe stays at home for a year and the father for 6 months after that. But you are not forced to take your days in a row.
I took 4 sick pay days a week for the first year as my husband earned more and when he was on paternity leave he took 7 sick leave days a week. We have lots of minimum days left which we can use until our child turns 8, they are not well paid but grants you extra time off with your kids for christmas, springbreak and other holidays.
Some of my friends have taken 1 year each for maternity and paternity leave, and used 3-4 days sick leave days a week.
We may have high taxes here, but day care / preschool costs maximum 200 dollars a month if you are considered to have a high income, lower if you are low waged. We have free health care (you pay service charge for around 25 dollars for a docctors appointment), College and University studies are free of charge (you only pay for books), from preschool to high school warm lunch are served for free in school as well as fruit and afternoon snack and we have a decent retirement system. Overall a quite nice country apart from the polar bears on the streets;)
It’s fine to say that in Canada we get a year, but mat benefits are only 15 weeks and then it is 35 weeks of Employment Insurance at only $500 a week!
I say keep your mat benefits and lower my taxes. I will save for myself and end up much further ahead than having the government mismanage my funds.
I am so happy you exist! I am really starting to get scared with all of the other people thinking they should turn over their money to the government to spend (badly) for them, rather than advocating lower taxes and individuals being responsible for themselves. Like in the US, there is a large group of people that think Obama just gives them things for free from ‘his stash’ having no clue or concern that it is coming from the taxpayers.
+1000….completely agree!
You must mean $500 a month. $500 a week is good money for most people here.
I was about to say the same as BlackMamba, we get a year in Canada. I was a contractor when I had my kid, so I got 7.5 hours to give birth, I was working while in labour and working while in the hospital. There were times when it was really hard, but looking back I think it kept me from being bored and restless and I got to work from home with my boy for the first year and a few months. Maternity leave would have been nice, though… you have to have a “real” job for that.
Shakira obviously is not aware of the lack of maternity leave in the United States. And you are right, she did not have to take on the Voice right away either.
She isn’t aware of maternity leave in Colombia either. As I’ve stated before she is no representative of my country whatsoever.
Doesn’t she live in Spain now? It’s 4 months there so that’s where she gets the number from.
I don’t know of anyone who has ever received four months maternity leave in the U.S. At my company the average is two months (if you have a c-section).
Yes that’s how maternity leave works in my field in my state- I’m a high school teacher in a large urban district. We must first use up any remaining sick days, then take maternity leave for a reduced pay- 3/4 pay for 6 weeks then 1/2 pay for any additional time up to 6 more weeks. So, those who have babies in say September are left with no sick days for the rest of the school year. If their child gets sick, they must take a payroll-deduct day and lose salary at a rate of about 220 a day.
Needless to say, I had my son in June So I didn’t have to mess with this silliness. And paternity leave is like 45 minutes :/
I’m a US public school teacher, and we get up to 12 weeks in my state, but it’s unpaid. So yes, first I used up all of my sick days, then I had no sick days for the rest of the year and had to get reduced paychecks each time I stayed home with my baby when he got sick. It makes it a tough decision- send baby to daycare feeling not-so-good, or have less $$ to stretch this month? And everyone complains about how overpaid teachers are in the US. Ha!
People complain about teachers getting paid too much?! I’ll flick them in the head for you! I volunteer at my son’s school because I can’t believe how understaffed that place is (he’s in a reading class with 39 other kids): and our local public schools are considered among the “best” in the state! IMO, teachers are the most underpaid profession for the job they do!
I’ve never heard one person complain about teachers being overpaid. I’ve heard many people say they are underpaid. Maybe you’re mixing it up?
Nerdmomma. I’m a retired after 30 years. Our maternity leave plan was that you can take the time the doctor will sign for or come back at semester (or next school year if it is at the end of the school year). To get paid you had to use up your personal days and then if you had been in the district long enough that was doubled and then there was a pool to dip into for pay (that was at a reduced rate). Then if you took off and didn’t have any days left you lost pay (because the doubling and pool money no longer applied). I took 4 months with my first one (got paid only 7 weeks). With my second one it was at the end of the school year so I had all summer. But with my last child I could only take 6 weeks. @Jo – those who know teachers personally know they are underpaid. Any time a tax levy (to get more money for the school) was put up in the district I was in, the first thing out of peoples mouths was that “those greedy teachers want more money”. Yes, there are many people out there that believe teachers are underpaid. When I retired in $2004 I was making about $65K a year and I was on the top of the pay scale, with 2 master degrees and 15 extra hours of graduate work. The good thing about the state I live in is that we have our own retirement system and I don’t have to rely on Social Security.
I had a late-September baby. We had a similar policy at my job, except you only got paid for the sick/vacation days. The rest was unpaid FMLA. So I took the full 12 weeks of FMLA. And then I had to take unpaid days off when he got sick. It was a rough time until January when my PTO was renewed.
I’m a teacher as well and two of my coworkers had babies in February and March. They only received 6 weeks of maternity leave (even including a school vacation week) and it starts the day they leave, even if they were put on bed rest. I remember both discussing whether or not they should come back or stay out with no pay since their leave ended so close to the end of the year. Even beyond maternity, you only have so many sick days to shore up. I feel like we (the US) get very little time and consideration in comparison to the rest of the world (majority of countries, at least) – even in non-maternity situations. I had to have emergency surgery during the school year and ultimately had to go back to work early so I wouldn’t lose part of my salary.
The US is way behind. Japan (and Sweden it seems) get a whole year. I took 7 weeks with my daughter and 3 with my son.
In Denmark we get a year
It’s a year in Canada, with employment insurance paying 55% of what you were earning (some places will top that up to 80-100%) as long as you meet some criteria (worked 600 hours in the last year etc)
I’m on leave now and so happy to be able to breastfeed exclusively for 6-9 months. This time with my daughter is precious.
I think it would help with a lot of obesity (formula fed babies are more likely to be obese later on) and social issues if the US had a better maternity leave system.
+1000
The thing is that the US doesn’t have *ANY* maternity leave policy.
Any standard policy would be an improvement, but the federal government tends to take a hands off approach when it comes to the internal administration of private businesses.
And Shakira doesn’t have a clue what she’s yammering about.
I think you’re 100 % correct. Audrey. Congrats on making it so far! My little lady will be 1 Saturday, and we are still nursing with no sign of slowing down. She LOVES her boobies! =)
Whoops. I’m on 12 months mat leave and I’m not breast feeding because I couldn’t. Suppose I’m a failure of a lazy mother with a fat baby.
In Canada we get a year as well.
In the UK it’s a year as well.
Makes it difficult for small companies, especially in professions dominated by women. But that’s a whole other argument ….
“Like every other women on earth …..” Seriously?!
That’s the sucky thing about the FMLA in the US – it doesn’t apply to small companies, so if your employer has less than 50 employees, the 12 week leave doesn’t apply to you.
@jen, exactly. Most funeral homes employ less than 50 people (unless they are corporately owned), so FMLA did not apply and I was back to work in days.
In Germany one parent(father or mother) gets paid 65% of his income for one year, we have a very low birth rate in Germany, we also get 184€ for each child as long as he/she lives with her parents, when the child moves out, the child gets it as long as she/he still goes to school, but max until the 25th birthday.
She currently lives in Spain, so paet of me is tempted to forgive the “every other woman in the world” comment. I believe that the huge majority of Europe (+ Canada) has very generous maternity leave. But she works in the United States, where women rarely get 4 months. I took 6 weeks with my first because that’s all the PTO I had (I’m an hourly employee). It wound up being not enough time, I got mastitis and had to yake an additional 2 weeks unpaid. This time around I had enough time banked I was able to take 12 weeks. But I had to skip alot of vacations to save up that much time.
maternity leave in spain is 14 weeks (16 if it’s your 2nd child). probably one of the lower rates in europe. but yeah, she lives here and it would reasonable for her to assume it’s standard in europe. a bit of hyperbole on her part, not realising the shitty maternity leave in the states.
My job offers 3 months unpaid.
I was a hairdresser when I had my son. There was no paid time off!
I went back to work after only 2 and a half weeks.
LUCKY for me, he was always the best baby.
=)
In fairness to her, the US is backassward on maternity and family leave. Most industrialized countries get more time than we do. On the other hand, I’m tired of over-paid celebrities whining about how hard their lives are, so -Shut up, Shakira.
This!!!
++
Exactly!! when i read that headline I thought “Bitch I only got 6 weeks and felt lucky to have that” and was back down to my pre-baby weight in 8 weeks without a nanny, personal trainer or tons of time during the day to workout! These celebs crack me up with their whining!
Not to mention her job is to sit in a chair and listen to people sing with some intermittent breaks to have her makeup and hair touched up.
Shoot. All I got was my FMLA. Unpaid. I worked for the feds too. American maternity leave policy sucks!
I absolutely adore her on the Voice so I’m trying to not read anything she says so as to not “burst the bubble”… As ridiculous as that sounds. He’s obviously very off target here, but I also think she may have said is as just an exaggeration in comparison to what she took off like “oh I don’t get a 4 hour lunch break like those executives..” That kind of thing. Maybe I just like her too much 🙂
At first, I did not like her on the voice. But now, she is showing how good of a coach she can be and how she cares about her team. Talking about “The Voice”, have you noticed how douche Usher was this week toward her? Not once, but twice…1- The comment he made for the 2 R&B singers in her team: If I were your coach I would had picked something better (something to that effect)…2- criticizing her for making the Latin girls sing her own song. He gives me serious douche vibes…argh!
Boo hoo, it was your choice to go back to work. Deal with it.
In the UK we get (as a baseline) 6 weeks at 90% pay, and then 33 weeks statutory maternity pay (about £150/week I think). Then you can take up to another 13 weeks unpaid, making a year in total.
That’s the government standard, lots of companies ‘enhance’ that.
what world does she live in? there are some countries that have maternity leave is but the rest…
are most women in the US salaried? does walmart offer it?
why do celebrities and people of privilege always complain about how “hard” something is when they have all the resources they could dream of at their disposal? especially when there are people that have no resources, even basic resources, like WATER?
shakira, i always thought you were better than that. smh
”why do celebrities and people of privilege always complain about how “hard” something is when they have all the resources they could dream of at their disposal?”
I think it’s called being out of touch. Shakira has been a major star basically all her adult life, as has her partner. She moves in circles where everyone is either very very priviliged, or are pandering to those – such as herself – who are. I’d say it’s a looooooong time since she’s had any meaningful contact with the ‘real world’. So she probably sincerely believes she’s made some sort of sacrifice, when in fact she could never work another day and live in great luxury for the rest of her life.
Enough already with these pampered mums complaining about how tough they’ve got it. Yesterday Isla Fisher, today Shakira, tomorrow who?
It’s sad US employees don’t get more time off. I have a friend now who’s due in mid-summer and going back to teaching in September.
I think she’s just more aware of other countries’ policies and not that it’s often less.
As for complaining, at least she’s honest that it’s not super easy, but at the same time, I’m guessing she works limited hours, gets paid a ton, and can bring her baby with her except on camera. For that reason, she’s pretty lucky and it’s not comparable to most new moms returning to work.
I work for the federal government, and women here get zero paid maternity leave (think about that the next time you read a rant about federal workers’ “overgenerous benefits”). You have to use up all your leave and then go unpaid, and even then it’s 3 months max.
I know in Europe and Canada it’s different, which is probably what she was thinking of, but she’s working in America now, so she should take that into account as well. Either way, I have limited pity for a celeb who really doesn’t have to do the show and who probably isn’t working that much anyway. I feel sorrier for the average woman who has to run back to work full-time and balance that with childcare.
5 in France, the two last months of your pregnancy plus three more when the baby is born. Paternity leave is two weeks.
And STFU Shakira, I used to like you but don’t consider yourself as an average working mom please.
HA… I had to be out 21 days with no pay then I got 3 weeks of full pay and 4 weeks of half pay. but I couldn’t use all of that because the DR cleared me to go back to work after 8 weeks. ugh! 21 business days, new baby, mortgage, and 2 car payments. I’m also the primary income earner talk about ouch!
I think in the states you’re lucky if you get a couple months. In Canada you get about a year.
Every woman on earth? Yeah, cause there are no poor women anywhere, who have to get straight back into the fields in order to survive, there are no prison inmates who have their babies taken away and then go back to the kitchen job, there are no … you get the point.
Way to be a priviliged asshole, Shakira.
Yeah, she needs to get a clue before she complains without complaining.
In Spain you get 3 months and in most cases a notice of termination if you manage to not get fired during your pregnancy. That’s why we have one of the lowest birth rates in the world.
It´s 16 weeks at the very least in Spain, 18 weeks in the case of multiple labor. Moms usually sum the lactance hours and holidays and they the build up two months more. Paternity leave two weeks.
We have one of the lowest birth rates but it´s not for the maternity leave duration.
And you cannot get fired while you´re pregnant, it´s illegal. They do fire you after you come back…
Before she took the TV gig, wasn’t she mainly just singing? So she was able to take months off at a time if and when she wanted to, right? It’s not like she was working a 9-to-5 job 6 days a week.
I remember when she first started dating Pique I got the impression that she had a lot of time on her hands, because it seemed like almost every minute of it was documented by the Catalan media.
Oh well, maybe she was trying to be clever or more accessible or something like that.
Yeah, endless pictures of them making out. My friend in Spain said the gossip mags should come with a barf bag lol.
I believe they were once voted Spain’s “Most Nauseous Couple” with 70+ percent of the vote! He is getting seriously fug (and useless on the pitch) now, if last night’s CL match was anything to go by.
On the topic, for women maternity allowances are becoming a double-edged sword – too generous and employers will throw every CV for a female aged 25-40 straight in the bin. Which is already starting to happen in the UK…
Does anyone know why Pique suddenly shaved all his hair off? I hope it was for a good cause because it’s so not cute. And it seems the length of his hair might have something to do with his ability to defend. Barca played terribly last night. I’m not a cule, but considering the final scoreline, I couldn’t help but feel a bit bad for them.
The US is dead last in maternity leave – check it out –
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/05/24/489973/paid-maternity-leave-us/?mobile=wt
Yeah, I like Shakira alot – but really?!? Fourteen years ago I was able to afford only three weeks of maternity leave. It was the worst.
In Ireland, if you’ve paid all of your social insurance, you get 6 months paid maternity leave and you can take unpaid leave after that too. You get up to 262EUR per week (now taxable) from the government on paid leave. I live in Spain at the moment. If you’ve paid your social insurance, you get 4 months paid leave. Fathers get 2 weeks paternity leave in Spain and that’s being increased to 1 months paid leave in 2015.
I took six weeks off because I had a C-section. Our company doesn’t have maternity leave, so I built up vacation and sick leave and got paid the time taken off except for one week.
I read through the excerpt of her comments expecting to be pissed off but she didn’t offend me. Yes the comment about maternity leave was annoying but she said it offhandedly so I think she was just exaggerating. Anyway all this offended will get their revenge when her soccer boy cheats on her and leaves her. I used to love her until she came out with that stupid She-wolf album. Wish she would go back to her true self and stop trying to be somebody she isn’t.
I read her as saying that she didn’t expect parenthood/post-baby life to be so difficult – perhaps she knew in theory but to be confronted with the reality of it is another thing altogether.
Used to like her, too, before she and Pique became one of those annoying couples that always needs to remind everyone how in wuv they are.
The US is one of only 4 countries in the world with zero paid maternity leave mandated by law. The others are Paupau New Guinea, Swaziland, and one other that I always forget. I am a teacher and I get zero days. It’s quite shameful.
The kind of upset me. There was a screw up with my disability paperwork so I got 6 weeks unpaid leave. Are celebrities really that delusional?
Uh. What?
She keeps saying “the Father”. Isn’t that an odd way to refer to her boyfriend?
Think she did that because not many people in the US know who Pique is.
Cry me a f*cking river…”I didn’t have my four months maternity like every woman on earth has.” I had my youngest son 6 weeks early, by c-section and went back to work/school 5 days after he was born. I couldn’t afford to take any more time than that off. Granted, I was able to bring him with me to work and that helped out tremendously.
She sounds like an idiot… “I didnt know babies needed so many diapers.”
Seriously?
I agree with Shakira on this point:how many diapers per day needs a new born baby?
Because the diapers are very expensive and he can use until 10 diapers per day (my personal record)
Babies pee and poo constantly. This isn’t something new.
There is no maternity leave policy in the US! Its one of the biggest problems with this country as far as I am concerned. We value work over family.
Companies with over 50 employees have to offer 12 weeks unpaid after giving birth and that just means they cant give away your job. The majority of companies either offer nothing, 2 weeks or 6 weeks paid or partially paid if you are lucky.
This is ridiculous. I wish congress would focus on more quality of life issues. I would love to live in another country.
I agree. I get so tired of hearing about how families are deteriorating and parents need to be more involved, but when it comes to passing legislation allowing mothers and fathers to be more hands-on, there’s nothing doing. Unfortunately the mindset of a lot of people in power in this country seems to be, “let’s persecute those pesky gays instead of focusing on doing something useful.” Sometimes I wish I could just pack up and move elsewhere.
Amen!
At my job (in the southern US) women get six weeks unpaid leave after delivery but can choose to cash in some of their sick/vacation hours so that they are collecting a check for some of that six weeks. It’s a shame this country doesn’t allow for better maternity leave.
I took a year with no pay after 8 weeks because we felt it important for one of us to be home with him. Like most new parents we were way over protective. But I would not change one day of that time. I wish everyone could take a year but I know in the U.S. it is impossible to do so for the majority of us.
Oh please 4 months. My company doesn’t get covered by FMLA because we’re too small of an organization so I get 6 weeks paid, but it doesn’t hold my job for me. When and if I come back they can give me any position they have available, not the one I had. Life must be sooooooo hard for her. Give me a break.
Ieras embalming 2 days before giving birth to my second and 4 days after birth. No paid maternity leave for me!
Wow…she’s pretty ignorant. “Everyone else on earth?” Nope. 6 weeks here, at 1/4 of my pay thank you very much. And on that 1/4 of my pay, I still had to pay my portion of insurances etc. So basically nada.
I know Canada and some European countires go up to a year but that’s not quite “everyone”.
So I guess we’re supposed to feel sorry for her then 😉
Fake hair and dark roots: not hot.
!!!
This irritates me to no end.
“Every woman on Earth”? Really?
This woman isn’t in your average industry – she could have taken as much time as she needed off. No one forced her to take on a new gig so soon after giving birth. Hell, she could retire from the Entertainment business and live off of her millions for the rest of her life!
What an arsehole.
I am so depressed hearing how little time working American mothers get off. 🙁 What the what!?!?!
As for Shakira I had no idea she had just given birth to a baby before the Voice started up again! I only realized this was the case after the other judges made a comment about how great she looked for having just had a baby.
I agree, she looks great 🙂 And yes babies are diaper MACHINES.
At my old job, three month unpaid. Ten days of vacation. And short term medical leave (if there are fewer than fifty employees, the company can get away with this). When I had surgery which required a month of recovery time, it was unpaid. This was one of the reasons I quit. Welcome to the United States.
Oh wow, what a dumb thing to say. Unlike you, all those women have no help and perhaps a small salary, Shakira. Unlike you, they don’t have multimillion dollar contracts. Unlike you, they don’t have an army of help: bodyguards, maids, assistants, chefs, nannies, trainers… I think they deserve 4 months off.
Why do these people not watch what they say? Was that supposed to make me feel bad for her? What was the point of that sentence? In what sense should I feel bad? Does she not realize how lucky she is? Or was I supposed to admire her working ethics? Because for that money I’d get off my death bed.
Oh, and when we had a blizzard and snow emergency which shut down public transportation, and everyone had to leave mid afternoon so that they would not up sleeping at the office, we were all dockedonevacation day to make up for the hours missed. That’s when I stopped giving that company’s unpaid overtime, which was routine. That was also when I discovered that the unpaid overtime was mandatory.
What a myopic imbecile. I get that she was obviously referring to the developed first world, but OMG what a stupid thing to day. And singing, coaching, and filming a mostly sitting job doesn’t seem too taxing when you compare it to strapping your baby on and heading back to the fields.
As far as mothers/grandmothers/even earlier generations having less pressure than today’s moms- WTH? Let us not forget the modern household gadgetry, markets and transportation which undeniably make life easier, which leads to more time to be concerned with one’s appearance. When you work your patoot off every day to survive/provide, your shape would be the last thing on your mind.
She sounds significantly less mature than her chronological age. And not very appreciative of living in this age and in her station in life. OMG.
/steps off soapbox,rant over.Apologies, folks.
Another dumb self absorbed celebrity! My fave part was ” but also not as horrible as everyone tells you”. I had baby last january, and who tells you it willl be horrible? ok….. Feeling privs that Im Canadian and we get a year. I took an extra six months on top of that bc my work lets me, and we can afford it. Igo back this summer and I am happy and sad. But at least Im smart enough to realize all the things Im lucky for unlike Shakira. And you work honey isn,t real work, its sitting in a makeup chair, and getting pretty clothes and singing. soooooo hard unlike the peasants who stand on their feet alll day or do physicsl labour.or..true hard work with their minds….
Totally agree. What an uneducated and demeaning statement. She can go commiserate with Ivanka Trump on how “hard” they work. A total insult to all hard-working females. They certainly think they work harder than anyone else and have to let us know that.
All I can say is, if you were truly laboring, you would not look so fabulous all the time. These wormen never look tired.
Yet another obnoxious comment from yet another celebrity millionaire mother.
I’m a temp worker, so I had no maternity leave, which meant no money. It was a huge financial hit for us. The US sucks when it comes to taking care of families.
I am latin and was a fan of Shakira in the mid-1990s when she was the poet goddess of young alternative latina girls in South America. I am so sad that she has become this obnoxious, washed-up US pop icon. She was our Emmylou Harris.
really? doing the hip-shake-i’m-in-heat-humpty-dance? cuz thats ALL i’ve EVER seen HER do.
Yes! Really! As s said above, she was really cool in the nineties, a breath of fresh air in the latin scene. But it didn’t last long, she went blond and dialed up the sexy image to sell her music. She lost her originality to become another blond, oversexed pop starlet. Can’t stand her now!
What on earth is she talking about? Is this perhaps a problem with translation/language?
At least in the US, there is no standard maternity leave. The federal government has no laws on the books about it at all, and as far as I am aware, no state does either.
There’s FMLA but while often used by larger companies as part of maternity leave, that’s not its entire purpose.
Bah. I wish celebrities would keep their mouths shut about these things. They sound like idjits.
A myth, indeed. I, too, work for a small company that isn’t required to be FMLA-compliant. I was allowed to take 6 weeks of my own accrued leave, but I ended up working 3.5 weeks of that.
Literally, I had to go into work the day after I got out of the hospital.
And paternity leave in the U.S. is largely laughable. My husband was allowed a few days off to bond with our daughter.
I cannot grasp how a developed country such as the United States can undervalue pregnant women and mothers to quite this degree. I’m a working mom who enjoys both my job and my family, but I shouldn’t be punished for having a uterus and choosing to utilize it.
GMAB most people in the world survive on less than a dollar a day.So the stuff we complain about would make us seem obnoxious or out of touch to them as well.As for diapers prior to having a babies I had never been around newborns so I thought babies used four or five diapers a day not ten
Ya. So anyway…
Am I the only one bothered by the fact that they NEVER change their clothes on The Voice?
Editing Shmediting.
Shakira made herself look stupid here.
It’s ridiculous to see someone like her who sponsor amazing projects in her native country and talks about these projects so passionately in interviews sounding so ignorant and arrogant in one single bit of one interview.
Hopefully this is going to be the only and last time she does a ridiculous statement.
She makes me think of other celebrities who sponsor social, humanitarian or environmental projects who sound so tremendously ignorant, arrogant and stupid in interviews. One of the celebrities I think of Is Gisele Bundchen. Gisele donates loads of money but the girl know nothing about anything.
Gisele and Shakira donate money to charities in their native countries (Brazil and Colombia) and their countries are well known for being fully corrupt. One more reason to question their intelligence.
Why did her boyfriend shave his head? He looks ridiculous! And maybe she didn’t mean 4 actual months, but she is a hard worker and maybe staying home for so long didn’t suit her, plus she can afford to bring her baby along.
Generous maternity leaves are disastrous for private businesses which can to lead to serious unemployment for 25-40 years old women.
It may very well backfire and women will be back in the kitchen like in the 50’s.
sorry that is just not true and some of the most successful developed countries that have the most egalitarian workplaces for women such as Canada, Sweden, Denmark to name a few have great maternity plans bc that is what is best for raising children to be healthy well adjusted adults to later run those businesses…..
Yes, just like in Scandinavia – hang on…
Did anyone notice that she brought up the 4 months maternity leave while discussing the necessity to get her figure back so she could do her job on the voice? Because, of course…
I got six weeks. It turned out to be 8 because that’s how long it took me to get into the dr and get a slip saying I was okay to come back. I was paid for 3 hours because that’s how much vacation time I had built up. I couldn’t build much up because my hours were cut. That’s a whopping $22 before taxes.
Real talk about the diapers. We bought some for my niece and nephew and they blazed through those like a fire in a forest.
“My dad says that there’s nothing better than a little meat on the bone! He likes my mom a little chubby. ”
I get what she’s trying to say, and I hate to be the nitpicky SJW, but who cares if your husband likes it or not? This deferral to men’s opinion cancels out what she’s saying about that generation not putting pressure on a woman.
I had three weeks. Unpaid. What is this four months of which you speak?
Oh and here in the us women in the military can be deployed as early as 6weeks after giving birth
like Shakira I am colombian with dual citizenship and I live in florida (usa). In our thirld world country the government pays 4 months of maternity leave to all working moms. In usa you get Z E R O. I stayed at home for 2 months after my 2 pregnancies thanks to the money my husband and I savec and I got supplemental insurance with aflac .
In Europe we don’t only get generous, paid maternity leave, but also we can get time off when our kids are sick (pediatrician fills out paperwork which you present at work to get time off), so we can take care of sick kids. Plus up to 3 days per child (under 12) per year for any reason. I’m currently on medical leave at home after a major surgery. I got 30 days plus time in the hospital. I get paid 100% for the first 30 days of medical leave and 80% if you’re sick longer. Social insurance pays for all this (it takes a big chunk off my salary every month but it’s well worth it). I don’t have to worry about being sick, having a sick kid etc. Plus, we get 26 days of vacation a year (ca. 5 weeks) and we use it all :).
At least in my company, we’re only allowed to use half of our available sick leave for sick kids/family. Never mind that I rarely got sick, but them’s the rules…
You’re both lucky and blessed to live where you do.
In the States, many employers have changed the terminology to PTO (Personal Time Off – they got tired of single parents lying about being sick when, in reality, they were caring for a sick child) and combined “sick days” with “vacation time,” both of which are sparse if even permitted.
IT. SUCKS.
(Oh, and the “maternity leave” pays between 60 and 80% of your salary, dependent upon where you work, and you still have to pay for your medical insurance.)
Oh, I live in the States. With my employer, we just aren’t allowed to use more than half of our sick leave for a sick kid/family member. So if I have 12 sick days, I can only use up to 6 for the kids. And when my son was in a serious car accident and couldn’t be by himself for several days after being released from the hospital, it sucked because I ran out of “kid” sick leave even though I still had several sick days available left to use. At least he wasn’t an infant/small child that had to stay home from daycare! Thank goodness I have family in the area. With everyone’s different work schedules they were able to step up and help with his care while I was at work until he was ok to be on his own (and able to play x-box all day, lol!)
Wow, minxx. This is good. This is how it ought to be. This is a humane way for things to be done.
I have a few friends (in the U.S.) who were let go from jobs because of their children being ill “too often.” One of my friends left her job after being berated one too many times about having to leave work to pick up her sick child from daycare. The boss who was angry about it was herself a mom. (But because of her position of authority, she could do whatever she liked—be absent from work herself—& still be free to be negative towards employees with sick children or parents they were taking care of.)
In my former job & the jobs of friends, this is the prevailing way of treating women staff, & even if they don’t get fired for it, they are verbally abused, have promotions & raises withheld, & get nasty attitude from bosses & even other staff. Something is very wrong here, & we need to stop putting up with it.
oh,and maternity leave has been recently extended from 20 weeks (plus optional 6 weeks) to a year (paid 100% if a woman decides to take only 6 month off , or 80% if she decides to take the entire year off).
especially people who don’t have a salaried job… definitely no maternity leave. use a few sick days and hope they don’t fire you.
especially people who don’t have a salaried job… definitely no maternity leave. use a few sick days and hope they don’t fire you.
What does she think she’s talking about?
STFU shakira. Most women on earth do not get 4 months…. Most women on earth live in situations where they give birth and 2 days later they are working – farming or in a factory or whatever!! Rembember the gifts you have been given,
Straight up! So ungrateful! She probably has a nanny. Or 2 or 3…
With my first baby, I had 8 weeks of unpaid maternity leave. There wasn’t any FMLA at the time and disability didn’t cover pregnancy/maternity leave. The US treatment regarding our babies/children is ridiculous. There are so many politicians trying to enforce their pro-birth policies, but have absolutely no interest in taking care of either mother or baby after it’s born. Birth control? Abortion? Welfare? No Way! Affordable health care for you & your child? Ha! Funding for Head Start or public education? Sorry! Pay teachers more? Those unions are just greedy!
Back to something on topic – I love Zumba classes! I looked like a drunken duck the first few classes, but it’s awesome. 🙂
The deal in Canada is that your company has to hold your job for a year, and as long as you’ve worked enough qualifying hours, you are entitled to collect employment insurance during that time (which can be split between Mom and Dad, but collectively is no more than a year).
That said, many companies will pay a “top up” to your EI that gets you closer to your full salary for a set period (some will top you up to 100% of salary) – the standard seems to be around 4 months of top up pay (though where I work Moms get the top up for 8 months). Also, a lot of places will grant “Paternal” leave for Dad’s to take time off with their kids as well – often with a top-up. Where I work, its 4 months for Dad’s with a top up to 95% of salary.
That said, regardless of the variations in the policy in Canada, its still WAY better than the US. Seriously – I cannot imagine having to go to work 6 weeks after giving birth. There is something seriously wrong with that.
As for Shakira, yeah, it’s hard to sympathize with her mat leave comment, since she doesn’t have to work. Also, the Dad is a top-level soccer player based in Spain, so I question how “involved” he is with the kid on a day to day basis – maybe during the offseason (which is basically just 2 months in the summer) but no way he’s around most of the time. She probably has a team of nannies helping her out, just like every other celebrity who complains about how hard motherhood is for them.
I didnt get 4 weeks let alone 4 months.
Shakira needs to get real. She has the money to have the best nannies – most women in this world do not have that option.
AND she brings her baby to set so her baby goes to work with her. Vast majority of women do not get to bring their babies to work.
She is blessed but doesnt seem to realize it. Sad
To all the Canadians proudly sharing that we get a year of maternity leave, I just want to give a shout-out to CUPW, our canadian union for postal workers. They’re the ones who went on strike in ’81 for 42 days to fight for paid maternity leave and won a historic decision with the federal courts. Because of that historic settlement, the government then federally mandated the year of maternity leave that we have today. So thank your CUPW folks!
Oh and Shakira…. I’ll just shake my head and say: tisk tisk tisk…
so out of touch…
Such a dumb freakin’ comment. There are a lot of countries where women don’t get maternity leave, hell, there are a lot of countries where women aren’t even allowed to work. So every woman on earth? Shut up Shakira.
I’m a state employee in Oregon- we get 12 weeks of unpaid FMLA, though we can elect to use accrued personal/vacation/sick time during those 12 weeks to get some $$. However, we are expected to be back at work at 12 weeks, though an employee in my division was able to get 5 months unpaid parental leave- I was hired as a temp employee to cover his position, and then was hired to a full time position.
Per year, we get 12 sick days, 12 vacation days, and 6 personal days per year, for a total of 6 weeks per year.
Public employees used to get this sweetheart deal where their unused vacation/personal days were paid out at retirement and counted as part of the final year’s salary. Since you pension is calculated at 80% of the average of your last three year’s salary, this meant that some people were receiving a pension equal to or greater than their actual salary. The legislature is changing that as we speak because the pension program is going bankrupt…
Oh, Shakira, shut it! You don’t even have to work. You want to stay home with your baby and have 40 years of maternity leave, well YOU can! I hate when celebs talk about work/family balance. Don’t work if it’s so hard to leave your babies! Jeez, the egotism of some celeb parents drives me bonkers.
I know she doesn’t mean it like that but this is extremely ignorant statement and as such this morning very infuriating – the majority don’t have maternity. I’d really love to smack her to her face with a fact that there are ppl living in desperate need of food, water, shelter and they can hardly even _dream_ of such luxuries as her “horrible” life has. Go to live in Afganistan for a year or two Shakira and see if you can educate yourself on how f*cking lucky you are. Now, please, shut up and disappear.
Ps. her vocal teacher was correct: she does sound like a goat when she sings. (true story, that’s what her teacher has said, not my invention)
I went back to work when my baby was 9 1/2 months old. And that is early by our standards. I saved one month of maternity and used it half a year later to go travel with my family.
All in all we have one full year, but I used 4 weeks prior to birth, the father used 2 weeks and I got the rest.
I dont understand how you can breastfeed going back to work so soon. Do american mothers not breastfeed that much or do they milk out in bottles or what? Is it more normal to use formula there?
I could never imagine going back to work so soon. I’d feel like I would be violently taken away from my baby. To me it was really difficult leaving her in daycare at 9,5 months. I feel lucky now reading all these posts.
I live in Denmark by the way.
They have to pump. Unfortunately, most workplaces don’t have a nice, private area to do that. Luckily our building has a locker room (one of the tenants is a gym), so my co-worker at least got to use that when she needed to pump. The drawback is her son got confused at first, and was so used to the bottle at daycare that he had difficulty nursing when she was at home.
in Russia we have 70 days with 100% salary before birth and 1,5 years after birth with 40% salary, AND after that we can take 1,5 years unpaid! Plus we have endless “sick days” and “sick child days”! It’s so strange to read your horrible stories about maternity leave in US. Because our women are fighting to have 3 years of paid maternity leave! First years of childhood is so important, i just don’t understand how such progressive country like US has such miserable laws.
I got 3 WEEKS unpaid. When you work for a small (under 50) employees in the US they can actually fire you if they can prove your pregnancy is a hardship to the business. That was fun. Shakira you got nothin’ to complain about!
I saved all my money so that I could stay home longer – the child care places here in LI are a nightmare. Not only are they super $$$, my child would get sick every other day. So I used up all my savings but stayed home and took good care of my daughter, lol. It was soooo good! The best time of my life.