Shakira Settles Tax Fraud Case in Spain
Shakira settled her tax fraud case with the Spanish government on Monday (November 20). Per Deadline, the singer-songwriter, whose full name is Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, agreed to pay millions…
Shakira attends the 24th Annual Latin GRAMMY Awards at FIBES Conference and Exhibition Centre on November 16, 2023 in Seville, Spain.
Juan Naharro Gimenez/Getty ImagesShakira settled her tax fraud case with the Spanish government on Monday (November 20). Per Deadline, the singer-songwriter, whose full name is Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, agreed to pay millions in fines. Shakira will receive a suspended three-year sentence and pay a fine of 7.3 million euros ($8 million). In addition, she will pay another fine of 432,000 euros ($472,000) in exchange for her sentence waived.
As we previously reported, the "Hips Don't Lie" singer failed to pay $15.8 million in taxes between 2012 and 2014. In July 2022, her publicists in London said in a statement that Shakira “has always cooperated and abided by the law, demonstrating impeccable conduct as an individual and a taxpayer.” The publicists accused the Spanish Tax Agency of violating her rights. Shakira’s Spanish public relations team previously claimed that the artist deposited the amount she is said to owe, including 3 million euros in interest. Prosecutors in Barcelona have alleged that the Grammy winner spent more than half of each year between 2012 and 2014 in Spain and should have paid taxes there. The performer alleged that she spent most of her time in her primary residence, the Bahamas.
RELATED: Shakira Stresses Importance of Being ‘Faithful to Ourselves’
The settlement reached today is somewhat of a victory for the singer, as prosecutors wanted her to pay $24 million and serve eight years and two months in prison if she was initially convicted. Per gossip website TMZ, Shakira seemed to be in a good mood when she entered the courthouse, blowing kisses to her fans. Shakira, 46, said in a statement it was "to spare my children seeing their mother sacrifice her well-being." She added, "I admire tremendously those who have fought these injustices to the end, but for me, today, winning is getting my time back for my kids and my career." She's still going after the Spanish government for targeting athletes and other high-profile folks. Despite that, the judge said the fine would end the case.
These Celebrities Speak Another Language Fluently
Some celebrities have made it obvious that they speak another language. Whether it is from a thick accent or speaking in another language in films or music, we can easily tell when someone is multilingual. However, there are some stars we would have never guessed spoke in anything besides their native tongue. The biggest surprise of all is when our favorite actor or musician speaks more than two languages!
Due to their cultural heritage, some stars have picked up a second language due to where their family is from. Others have found a love for language in their travels or a genuine interest in linguistics. Whatever the reason, it is impressive when a person can dedicate themselves to adding another language to their repertoire. If you needed a reason to pick up another language, these celebrities' success is inspiring.
Take a look below at which celebrities can speak two or more languages:
Tom Hiddleston
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for DisneyBesides English, the 'Loki' star can speak Spanish, French and Greek. The British actor has been fascinated with language since his school days and found he was gifted with the affinity of learning languages.
Mila Kunis
Momodu Mansaray/Getty ImagesThe Ukrainian-born actress can understand and speak Russian, as she lived there until the age of seven.
Timothée Chalamet
Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for BFIThe actor, whose name is very French, speaks fluent French. He grew up speaking both French and English since his father is from France.
Lupita Nyong'o
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Gotham Film & Media InstituteThe Mexican-born actress speaks an impressive four languages: English, Spanish, Swahili and Luo.
Sebastian Stan
Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesThough he used to speak 3 languages fluently, Stan can only understand German a little now. He is fluent in English and Romanian.
Salma Hayek
Arturo Holmes/Getty ImagesThe Mexican-born actress can speak both English and Spanish fluently. Her father is of Lebanese descent and her daughter's father is French, so she can speak some of both of the languages.
Bradley Cooper
Jamie McCarthy/Getty ImagesThe actor lived in France for six months and can speak French fluently. He also can speak some Italian, as his mother taught him.
Sandra Bullock
Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesBesides English, the actress can also speak German fluently. She was raised in Nuremberg, Germany and Austria, as her mother is German and her father was in the army.
Ben Affleck
Jon Kopaloff/Getty ImagesThe actor first learned how to speak Spanish when he made his acting debut on 'The Second Voyage of the Mimi.' The show was filmed in Mexico and that's where he picked it up.
Michelle Yeoh
Arturo Holmes/Getty ImagesBorn in Malaysia, the actress can speak Malay, Cantonese, Hokkien, Mandarin and English.
Jackie Chan
Jamie McCarthy/Getty ImagesThe actor can speak an impressive 9 languages! English, Spanish, German, Mandarin, Cantonese, Thai, Japanese, Korean and American Sign Language.
Natalie Portman
Jon Kopaloff/Getty ImagesThe actress can speak a number of languages including Hebrew, German, Japanese, Spanish and French.
Leonardo DiCaprio
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for NetflixThe actor was born in Los Angeles, but he speaks German and Italian fluently. His parents are Italian and German and he spent a lot of time in Germany growing up.
Shakira
Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty ImagesThe Colombian singer can speak a whopping seven different languages. She speaks Spanish, English, French, Italian, Arabic, Catalan, and Portuguese.
Oscar Isaac
Jamie McCarthy/Getty ImagesThe Guatemalan-born actor can speak both English and Spanish.
Celine Dion
Pascal Le Segretain/Getty ImagesThe singer is fluent in both English and French. However, she has sung in languages including Spanish, Italian, German, Latin, Japanese and Mandarin.
Hugh Jackman
Jeremy Chan/Getty ImagesThe Wolverine actor is fluent in French and Spanish.
Dua Lipa
Jon Kopaloff/Getty ImagesDua Lipa is bilingual and speaks both English and Albanian due to her heritage.
Bruno Mars
Rich Fury/Getty Images for The Recording AcademyThe Hawaiian-born singer can speak both English and Spanish.
Lady Gaga
Arturo Holmes/Getty ImagesThe musician can speak both English and French fluently. Though she knows some Italian words and phrases, she isn't fluent in the language.
Phil Collins
Chris Jackson/Getty ImagesThe musician can speak four languages: English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. He even sang and recorded the entire 'Tarzan' soundtrack in all of the aforementioned languages.
Selena Gomez
Jon Kopaloff/Getty ImagesThe singer can speak both English and Spanish. Her Spanish was more fluent as she was growing up and some of it has faded away.
Jodie Foster
Pascal Le Segretain/Getty ImagesThe actress is fluent in English, Italian and French. She can also speak Spanish and German.
SZA
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/VogueThe singer can speak both English and Spanish. She can understand Portuguese and Italian, a little bit of French, and some German from her mother (who is also multilingual).
Gwyneth Paltrow
Kevin Winter/Getty ImagesThe actress is fluent in English and Spanish. She lived in Spain as a teenager and fell in love with the language.
Anya Taylor-Joy
Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesThough she was born in Florida, Anya's parents raised her in Argentina until she was 6 years old and speaks fluent Spanish. She learned English when they moved to London by watching 'School of Rock,' 'Harry Potter,' and 'Jumanji,'
