Her hips don’t lie, but her ex-boyfriend is a different story.
Shakira is calling out the former flame who’s suing her for $250 million — lambasting his claim that he’s responsible for her success and asking a judge to throw his case out.
Antonio de la Rua has been waging an international war against his ex, saying he shaped the “Shakira brand,” was responsible for two of her biggest hits — “Hips Don’t Lie” and “Waka Waka” — and that she still owes him big time.
In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, the sexy judge from “The Voice” says she’s a self-made woman, and that he should get over himself — and her.
Shakira, 36, says in an affidavit when she first met de la Rua at a concert in Argentina in 2000, “I was already a well-known and recognized artist, and my international career was established and solid.”
And the Colombian singer shrugged off claims that he was her business partner and strategist, saying she just hired him out of pity.
The dashing de la Rua was just “one of my numerous advisers,” she said in the court filing.
Even “though he lacked experience or knowledge of the music industry,” Shakira said, “in 2005, at his request, I decided to involve (de la Rua) in some matters relating to the business” because he “was unemployed.”
The pair had been dating for a year when de la Rua first fell on hard times and moved in with her.
When de la Rua’s father “was forced to resign as president of Argentina at the end of 2001, plaintiff, for his own safety, became self-exiled from Argentina and he became unemployed,” Shakira said.
De la Rua maintains he was the one doing her a favor. He says he had been advising her throughout their relationship and offered to use his background in law, “marketing, brand-building and political campaign management” in a more active way after her successful 2004 tour somehow lost money.
He said he talked her into recording “Hips Don’t Lie,” which she initially “hated,” and orchestrated her $300 million deal with Live Nation in 2008.
He also says he “inspired” her to write the song “Waka Waka” with a recording he had made of African-inspired Colombian music, and was the one who successfully campaigned for it to be the anthem of the 2010 World Cup.
He says he continued to manage her business even after they broke up in 2010, until she gave him the heave-ho a year later. He suspects she only did so because their partnership was creating problems with her new man, Barcelona soccer star Gerard Piqué.
The spurned ex has since filed actions against her in New York, California, Switzerland and the Cayman Islands, charging that she still owes him his share of her profits.
Shakira — who had a baby with Piqué earlier this year — filed suit against de la Rua in the Bahamas last year, charging that he had “misappropriated” $3 million of her money.
Her lawyers contend that de la Rua doesn’t have a case because they don’t have any business or partnership agreements in writing. Their filings also say the case shouldn’t be fought in New York — it should be heard in the Bahamas, where they lived together, or in Colombia, where Shakira is from and where de la Rua has been spending time with his soon-to-be baby mama, former Miss Mundo Colombia, Daniela Ramos.
“We just want to have our day in court and it’s apparent that they don’t,” said de la Rua’s lawyer, Bill Reid.
A lawyer for Shakira did not return a call for comment.
