Former professional soccer player Gerard Piqué said he’s “very happy” and makes no apologies for his breakup with singer Shakira last year.

The couple was together for 11 years and share two children though they were never legally married. They announced their split in June 2022 amid rumors of Piqué cheating on Shakira. The athlete is currently dating Clara Chia Marti, the woman he was accused of cheating with.

“I keep doing what I want,” Piqué told El Pais during an interview via a translation. “The day I die, I will look back and hope I have always done what I wanted,” he added. “I want to be faithful to myself. I’m not going to spend money cleaning up my image.”

He went on, “The people that I love and care about are the ones who know me. The rest isn’t important to me. I spend my energy on being with my loved ones and giving them what I have. I’m very happy. There have been changes in my life and I have known how to preserve happiness.”

The father of two said he prioritizes his sons Milan, 10, and Sasha, 8, above everything else.

“It is about protecting them,” the 36-year-old soccer star continued. “That is the job of all parents with children. That is what I am focused on and that is my job as a father.”

Piqué made similar statements during a radio interview with a Spanish radio station on March 15: “People have a responsibility, especially those of us who are parents, to try to protect our children. I don’t want to say anything more, we each make the decisions that we think are best.”

“I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” he continued. “I think that in the end the only thing that matters is that my children are fine.”

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Shakira recently said there’s a “special place in hell” for women who don’t support other women after Piqué posted a photo of himself with Marti on social media.

“I feel complete — because I feel like I can depend on myself and I have two kids who depend on me,” she said of moving past the infidelity scandal, saying she had to be “stronger than a lion” to endure it.

“That strength, in order for it to be real and not a façade … it needs to be the result of a great pain,” Shakira said. “Accepting that pain and tolerating the frustration because there are things in life that don’t turn out the way we want them to.”

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew neglected to provide a clear answer on whether individuals associated with ByteDance, the social media platform’s Chinese parent company, helped him prepare for a Thursday morning hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Democrats and Republicans have raised concerns over allegations that user data on TikTok can be accessed by associates of the Chinese Communist Party. Lawmakers from both parties questioned Chew on the links between TikTok and ByteDance, as well as the extent to which authorities in China maintain authority and influence over both entities.

Chew was pressed by Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) on whether any employees of ByteDance directly provided “input, help, or instruction” for his testimony. Chew responded that his “phone is full of well wishes” but said that he prepared for the hearing with his team in Washington, D.C.

“Can you guarantee that no one at ByteDance had a role when preparing you for today’s hearing?” Burgess pressed. “Like I said, Congressman, this is a high-profile hearing,” Chew responded. “A lot of people from around the world were sending me wishes and unsolicited advice, but I prepared for this hearing with my team here in D.C.”

Burgess asked whether the attorneys who represent TikTok also represent ByteDance. “Yes, I believe so,” Chew admitted.

TikTok CEO won’t say if Chinese officials “had a role” in preparing his testimony to Congresspic.twitter.com/IdUTTPYqn1

— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) March 23, 2023

Some officials have called for a wholesale ban on TikTok, while others have asked the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a board that evaluates the national security implications of international investments, to force a divestiture from ByteDance. TikTok committed in one recent proposal called Project Texas to spend $1.5 billion protecting user data and ensuring that Chinese officials cannot access user information; the CFIUS has reportedly rejected the proposal.

President Joe Biden and several state officials have banned TikTok from government devices over data security and surveillance concerns after reports indicated that ByteDance staffers in China used the platform to monitor the locations of specific American users.

Chew said in his prepared remarks to the House Energy and Commerce Committee that “ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country,” even as he acknowledged that the firm has Chinese founders. “Divestment does not address the fundamental concerns that I have heard, as a change in ownership would not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access,” he told lawmakers. “This is not an issue of nationality.”

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Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, asserted in her opening statement that Chinese law requires ByteDance and other social media companies to conduct surveillance on its behalf. “From the data it collects to the content it controls, TikTok is a grave threat of foreign influence in American life,” she commented. “It’s been said it is like allowing the Soviet Union the power to produce Saturday morning cartoons during the Cold War but much more powerful and much more dangerous.”

Chew has frequently touted the runaway popularity of TikTok in the United States as he seeks to dissuade lawmakers from taking action against the company. Rodgers added that the massive scale of the platform only “emphasizes the urgency for Congress to act.”