Irina Shayk is thought to have lost around 11 million Instagram followers in a day following her split from Cristiano Ronaldo. Picture: Reuters
IRINA Shayk is thought to have lost around 11 million Instagram followers in a day following her split from Cristiano Ronaldo.
The supermodel, 37, called it quits with the footballer, 38, in 2015, and a year later she encouraged social media users to hit the unfollow button if they “only know her as Cristiano Ronaldo's ex-girlfriend”.
The US Sun has now calculated it led to her being down 11 million followers.
It added it was around the time Ronaldo moved on with now-partner Georgina Rodríguez, which reportedly prompted Shayk to tell her fans to unfollow her if they only know her as part of the footballer’s life.
She went on to date actor Bradley Cooper, 48, until June 2019, with the two sharing six-year-old daughter Lea De Seine.
Shayk first met Portuguese soccer star Ronaldo on the set of an Armani ad in 2010 and they dated for nearly five years, travelling the world together and posing for a sultry cover of Vogue Spain, which showed the footballer standing naked behind the model.
But by January 2015, their romance was over, with a representative saying: “We can confirm Irina Shayk has ended her relationship to Cristiano Ronaldo.”
They insisted the break-up had nothing to do with Shayk not showing up to Ronaldo’s mom’s 60th birthday party that New Year’s Eve.
The model’s spokesperson added: “She has been close with his family throughout the course of their relationship.
“Any negative rumours with regards to Irina and the Ronaldo family are completely false and have not been a factor in the cause of the spilt.”
Ronaldo branded rumours he’d been unfaithful to Shayk “pure fiction and forgery”, but the former Victoria’s Secret model alluded to his alleged infidelity in a few subsequent interviews with ¡Hola!
She said: “Of course I prefer to be with someone, but with the right someone.
“It’s very simple. You have to be faithful to your other half and not have secrets. That’s my rule.”
The following year, she told the publication both people in a couple “have to share the same concept of what it means to be in a relationship and the same energy to create a monogamous relationship”.
After being briefly linked to rapper Kanye West, 46, in 2021, Shayk is now reportedly getting close retired NFA star Tom Brady, 46.