Shakira feared her family wouldn't "survive" her split from Gerard Piqué

She told Marie Claire about how she feels her life as a single mum juggling raising kids with her career is the "challenge of the century": "Look, I'm not going to lie to you: I always dreamt about having a family of four. And for a while (after her and Gerard's break-up), it felt like a three-legged table.

"I wondered how we were going to survive, how we were going to do it."

Shakira said she now feels as if she has a "pretty good dynamic going on" with her family.

She added: "We talk a lot. We have a constant dialogue. I listen to their opinions and vice versa. We work it out."

Shakira and Gerard's split was dogged by rumours he'd been unfaithful, and the singer said she is aiming to raise her boys as "loyal".

She added: "I've made it my own personal objective to raise loyal boys, honest men. I want them to be men of their word. In today's world, a person's word is often worthless.

"People over-promise and under-deliver. And I want my kids to be exactly the opposite."

Shakira's new sexually-charged track 'Puntería' recently climbed to the top of the US charts, with its video showing her and rapper Cardi B, 31, alongside bare-chested 'Emily in Paris' actor Lucien Laviscount, also 31, who is shot in the chest by Shakira with an arrow while dressed as a centaur.

She said it is part of her hatred of the world restricting women's feelings.

Shakira added: "I think society has taught (women) to conceal our feelings, hide our pain in front of our children or be elegant in the face of adversity; to cope in a certain formulaic way.

"That's a path that doesn't lead anywhere. It's a dead-end road."