As Shakira says she’s ‘not opposed to having special friends’, a look at the stars, including Carol Vorderman, who have decided to ditch conventional relationships to date multiple people

Shakira made the bold confession she ‘wasn’t opposed to having friends’ as she provided an insight into her love life in an interview this week.

The singer, 47, split from her husband Gerard Pique two years ago, and has been linked to a number of stars following her split including Tom Cruise and Lewis Hamilton.

Shakira is the latest star to speak openly about her dating life as she admitted: ‘I like men, that’s the problem’.

Here we take a look at the other celebrities who have spoken about their unconventional takes on romance, including Carol Vorderman, who has admitted she has ‘five special friends’.

Shakira said she’s not quite ready for a ‘formal relationship’ but suggested she may be open to a fling — two years after her split from longtime partner Gerard.

The Colombian hitmaker and the Spanish football star, 37, were together for 11 years and welcomed two children — sons Milan, 11, and Sasha, nine — before separating in 2022.

It was rumored that Gerard had cheated on Shakira with his now-girlfriend and former employee Clara Chia, 26.

‘I’m not thinking about that. What space do I have for a man right now?’ she told Rolling Stone this week when asked about her dating life.

She continued: ‘What can I tell you, I like men. That’s the problem. I shouldn’t like them with everything that’s happened to me, but imagine how much I like men that I still like them.’

Since parting ways with Gerard, Shakira has been romantically linked to the likes of A-list actor Tom Cruise and racing champ Lewis Hamilton.

Most recently, Shakira has been spotted with Emily In Paris hunk Lucien Laviscount, 32, who starred in the Sєxy music video for her song Puntería in March.

A source told DailyMail.com in April she and Lucien ‘are seeing each other but are not heavily involved yet.’

But Shakira insisted to Rolling Stone that she isn’t interested in a relationship at the moment as the well-being of her children is her primary focus.

‘I think my kids would have to be very prepared for that, and their emotional and psychological well-being is the priority,’ the She Wolf hitmaker admitted.

But she appeared to hint that she isn’t opposed to a future fling. ‘Hey, I’m not opposed to having friends,’ the mother-of-two told the outlet.

Shakira also declared that she’s got her ‘Sєxy back.’

‘More swag. I got my swag back. And I got my Sєxy back,’ she said.

Carol Vorderman has been very open about the fact that she has five ‘special friends’ who she has relationships with – although she has previously said she ‘doesn’t do one night stands.’

In an interview with You magazine last year, the TV presenter, 63, has said that it’s all working very well because doesn’t want to be in love and isn’t a jealous person.

Carol said her lovers are all single – and she said she wouldn’t mind if any of her lovers fell for someone else and moved on.

One thing that has surely connected Carol to a younger generation is her atтιтude to dating and her willingness to talk about it openly, if not in prurient detail.

‘Oh yeah, yeah, my ‘special friends’,’ she said. ‘I’m continuing with that system and it’s working very well.’

There are five of them. She said: ‘One’s been a friend for 11 years, one for seven. My kids [Katie, 33, and Cameron, 27], know most of them.’

Carol admitted she relishes the independence and the freedom the setup gives her and says there is no problem with her partners wanting more intimacy than it offers, ‘as long as you’re all honest and have a goodc time’.

All involved are single – she works on the principle that you should ‘do no harm’ – and if one met somebody else, it’d be fine.

She continued: ‘I’m not a jealous person and I’m happy when my friends are happy, whether they are “special friends” or not.

‘The goal of my life is to be happy, not to be in love. I just find people interesting and life interesting.

‘And you can get to a stage where you choose which bits you enjoy. You can’t in your 30s because you’re making your way in your career, you’re beholden to bosses and all those sorts of things. But in your 60s…’

Carol has been single since she split from journalist Des Kelly in 2007, after being married twice, first to Christopher Mather from 1985 to 1986 and then to second husband Patrick King from 1990 until 2000 – the father of her two children.

Last month Fifth Harmony star Lauren Jauregui revealed last month she was looking to expand her Sєxual relations and potentially add some polyamory to her resume in the wake of her split from girlfriend Sasha Mallory.

During an appearance on the 2 D**es and a Mic podcast, starring Rachel Scanlon and McKenzie Goodwin, the pop star admitted she’s ‘kind of in this space of exploring polyamory a little bit.’

‘I don’t really know what it’s gonna end up shaping up to look like, I just know that I’m in a space right now at this point in my life where I’m like, I want to belong to myself primarily, and then I want to leave space for whoever I meet and me to create boundaries between us, whether it’s like, “Oh no, we’re just platonic,” or “There’s kind of a little vibe here we can explore that and it won’t necessarily affect if I’m exploring something with someone else,”‘ she explained.

She went on to clarify that she’s ‘super-communicative’ and ‘would never like put someone in that scenario that doesn’t want to be in that scenario,’ before adding, ‘I just feel very free right now, and I don’t feel like this monogamous, held-down energy is really for me.’