CELEBRITIES
Shakira chauffeur recalls “dangerous”, “soul-destroying” experience of driving pop star
A former driver for Colombian singer Shakira has told the Spanish TV programme Socialité about his unhappy memories of working for the 46-year-old.
A chauffeur used by Shakira in Spain has slammed the pop star as a “dangerous” and “soul-destroying” client in an interview on Spanish television.
The driver’s comments are the latest in a raft of public attacks by former Shakira employees in response to the Colombian singer’s recently-released track “El Jefe”, which translates as “the Boss”.
In “El Jefe”, which was recorded in collaboration with the regional Mexican band Fuerza Regida, Shakira and Fuerza Regida’s frontman, Jesús Ortiz Paz, sing about their dissatisfaction with an unpleasant boss.
What did driver say about working for Shakira?
Speaking to the TV show Socialité, the Grammy winner’s former chauffeur revealed: “My experience of driving Shakira and her brother Tonino for 10 days in Madrid was among the most soul-destroying of my life.”
According to the driver, who spoke anonymously, Shakira would make demands that were a threat to road safety, and would remain impassive in the face of Tonino’s abusive behaviour towards him.
“[I was asked to] turn my rear-view mirror to face downwards, because they said you might be tempted to use it to look at her,” he explains.
“Tonino sits in the passenger’s seat in the front and is yelling at you constantly,” he added. “[Shakira] acts like it’s nothing to do with her, but she can see what’s happening and just watches on every time.”
The chauffeur also accused Tonino of feeding stories to the media and blaming the leaks on people who work for his sister: “He points the finger at drivers and employees when there’s any kind of leak, when he was in complete cahoots with the press […].
“He would be blatantly giving [the media] instructions on the phone, such as: ‘Shaki’s not going out.’”
“You’re pretty much begging them to pay you back”
Finally, the chauffeur took aim at Shakira and her close circle for being tight-fisted about tips - and about repaying him for purchases they had asked him to make on their behalf.
“They don’t give you a tip,” he recalled. “They ask you to go and pick things up for them, and you have to advance the money out of your own pocket to pay for them.
“You then find yourself pretty much begging them to pay you back the money you’ve had to take out of your own pocket for whatever it was that took their fancy at the time.”
Video - Taylor Swift goes viral singing along to Shakira:
