Celebrities go viral every day for things like questionable Halloween costumes or raunchy music videos, but it’s not as common that they go viral for surviving a wild boar attack. That’s exactly what happened in late September to Shakira. She was out for a stroll with her son in a Barcelona park when all of the sudden, wild boars came out of nowhere and made a beeline for her purse. The singer previously noted she “stood up” to the animals, and has now shared the full story.
Shakira recently sat down for a cover interview with Glamour UK to talk about her upcoming music and her fight against climate change. But, of course, the conversation kicked off with the singer providing more details about what exactly went down the day she was attacked by wild boars this fall. The singer said it all happened thanks to an innocent sandwich:
“I was taking my son, Milan, for a walk in the park and I got him a little ice cream. We sat on one of those park benches and we were just minding our own business. And then two huge wild boars came from the back and ambushed [us] and took my purse! And I was like, ‘Oh, my God! Oh, my God!’ and screaming, because they were taking it away, with my phone in it, my car keys, everything! Like they could understand me! And people were just watching and they weren’t doing anything! They started digging inside my purse… Obviously my son’s sandwich was inside the purse, so that’s why they were so interested. So they took the sandwich and walked away and left my purse. It was wild.”
Surprisingly, wild boar attacks are more common that you might think. They are actually considered an invasive species in Europe and have an estimated population of over 10 million in the continent. Apparently, Barcelona has a particular problem with the animals and has received over 1,100 phone calls about wild boar attacks since 2016 alone.
Read Shakira’s full Glamour UK interview here.