Shakira sues former employees

Shakira (Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons).

Singer Shakira is taking legal action against two former employees over allegations of extortion and defamation.

The "Hips Don't Lie" hitmaker said her ex-workers had threatened to release details about her private life if she didn't give them 312,500 pounds, reports dailystar.co.uk.

The staffers, who had worked for the singer for 11 years, were recently sacked for undisclosed reasons.

"There is clear evidence of intentions to defame and cause harm to my client by taking advantage of her public persona and spotless personal reputation in exchange for money," Shakira's lawyer Exequiel A. Camerini told Colombian paper El Esplendor.