In 2012, Shakira moved to Dubai, where she spent the next seven years. Upon arrival, she was welcomed by acquaintances who had already settled there, and she initially lived with another woman who also had a child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After becoming familiar with the city, she entered the nightlife industry through a job commonly known as \u201chosting,\u201d which involved entertaining and receiving guests in clubs and bars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Through that work, she interacted with wealthy and influential individuals, including international celebrities, many of whom became part of her social circle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shakira recalled that shortly after suffering a miscarriage and while still struggling emotionally, she met a foreign man on her first day working in Dubai who took interest in her and gave her $1,300, money she says helped her begin rebuilding her life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI used to host celebrities like Davido and Kizz Daniel. Many people knew me there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI lived a life surrounded by influential people. I met children of presidents, musicians, and other powerful individuals almost every day while working there. There were also several well-known girls from Rwanda involved in the same lifestyle, but I cannot mention their names.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mukaruziga revealed that although she became part of the high-end escort lifestyle often associated with \u201cSlay Queens,\u201d she personally tried to avoid becoming deeply involved in prostitution despite being surrounded by wealthy and influential men in Dubai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead of sleeping with the celebrities and rich clients she met through nightlife hosting, she said she chose to introduce them to other women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn order to maintain that lifestyle and keep my connections, I avoided becoming sexually involved with them because I knew that once a celebrity sleeps with you, the next day he may never speak to you again,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo instead, I connected them with other girls. The man would meet the girl he wanted, they would do whatever they wanted together, but afterward he would still continue calling me and keeping in touch with me because I had protected myself from getting directly involved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shakira said one of the reasons she managed to avoid going too deep into prostitution was because she was in a relationship with a Kenyan man during her years in Dubai. According to her, he often accompanied her to hosting events and nightlife venues, which limited opportunities for her to become intimate with other men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhile I was in Dubai, I dated a Kenyan man who was financially stable. During the time I worked in hosting, he was always by my side, and that helped me avoid getting deeply involved in prostitution. We went everywhere together,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After spending nearly a decade living the \u201cSlay Queen\u201d lifestyle, traveling between countries and entertaining wealthy clients who paid enormous sums of money, Shakira says many women involved in that world begin to believe there is no better life outside of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, looking back today, she says she eventually realized that much of the money earned through that lifestyle brought no real value or lasting happiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to her, the experience made her question whether there was something spiritually dangerous behind the extravagant wealth and gifts some men freely offered to young women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen you are living that kind of life, you feel like there is no other life better than it. Someone can simply hand you $50,000 for what seems like nothing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was only after leaving that lifestyle, even after falling into drug abuse, that I started thinking deeply about it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She questioned how a man could give a woman tens of thousands of dollars after spending only one night with her, suggesting that such situations may sometimes hide darker motives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHow can someone sleep with you for one night and give you $50,000? Isn\u2019t there something hidden behind it? Sometimes I feel like people may be trying to gain something spiritually or personally from those interactions,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She added that despite receiving large amounts of money during those years, very little of it brought meaningful progress to her life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEven the huge amounts of money I received never truly benefited me in any meaningful way. Most of it disappeared without changing my life for the better, and many other Slay Queens know exactly what I mean and how that money is usually spent,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shakira also claimed that many of the men she encountered who lavishly spent money on Slay Queens sometimes without even engaging in sexual relations were foreigners, particularly Nigerians. She said some of the experiences left her suspicious that certain individuals may have been involved in spiritual practices or hidden agendas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou are not that special for a man to simply give you huge amounts of money or buy you expensive cars without expecting something in return,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMost of the people who did that were foreigners, especially Nigerians. Since childhood, we have watched movies about spiritual practices and rituals, and sometimes some situations I witnessed felt very suspicious.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although she acknowledged that these were her personal reflections and beliefs, Shakira warned that many women involved in transactional relationships with wealthy foreigners often do not end up with happy lives in the long run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe should call things by their real names. Some people go looking for what they call \u2018stars\u2019 or special blessings and powers. They may be given instructions to do certain things while you are with them, without you even realizing what is happening,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shakira has revealed that during her years living in Dubai, she was once introduced to Nigerian billionaire and politician Ned Nwoko, the husband of Nigerian actress Regina Daniels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ned Nwoko is widely known in Nigeria for his luxurious lifestyle and for being married to multiple women at the same time. His marriage to Regina Daniels attracted major media attention, partly because of the nearly 40-year age difference between them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Shakira, she was invited to travel to Nigeria to meet the billionaire for what was allegedly expected to become a sexual relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI arrived and found a private jet waiting for me,\u201d she recalled. \u201cWhen I got there, I found around 10 other girls who had also been brought there the same way I had.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She said the group included women from different African countries, including South Africa and Kenya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAt night, they would prepare a very long dining table where all the girls sat in a line, while he sat in the middle. The atmosphere looked almost royal, like something you only see in movies about kings and wealthy families,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shakira described the environment as luxurious and highly organized. The women were reportedly treated well, each having her own room, access to recreational facilities like tennis courts, and other forms of entertainment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, she claimed that despite the assumptions surrounding the gatherings, the billionaire did not pressure every woman into a sexual relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe never came and announced that he had brought the girls there for sex,\u201d she said. \u201cThere was usually one girl who spent the night in his room, although I cannot confirm what happened there. Personally, he never touched me, and there were other girls I knew he never approached either.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Shakira, although she never had a sexual relationship with Ned Nwoko, he still gave her a large amount of money, the biggest sum she had ever received at one time in her life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe liked spending time with me and preferred sitting with me in the car even though there was another woman he was closer to,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She also described being taken to what she believed was a mysterious underground location that appeared luxurious and unusual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe were taken to a place that looked like a huge underground structure. Inside, there were strange decorations, traditional-looking carvings, and small woven baskets. Some of the objects looked unusual, almost symbolic,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to her, the billionaire later gave her $15,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She added that after returning to Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, he reportedly gave her an additional $30,000 along with a smartphone worth around $2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat was the largest amount of money I had ever received at once in my entire life,\u201d she said. \u201cLooking back now, I can say that was the moment my life truly began falling apart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shakira admitted that although she had experimented with drugs before, receiving such a huge amount of money pushed her deeper into addiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She said that immediately after returning to Rwanda, she contacted a drug supplier she already knew and arranged to buy cocaine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI had used cocaine before, but after getting that money, I called someone I knew and told him to make sure he had enough prepared for me,\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She claimed that within just three nights, she had spent nearly $16,000 on drugs. During that period, she was also robbed of another $10,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From that point onward, her addiction worsened rapidly. She exhausted the remaining money she had received from the Nigerian billionaire, spent her personal savings, and eventually sold nearly everything she owned in order to continue buying drugs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shakira said the addiction completely destroyed her life and reputation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDrugs took me to a terrible place,\u201d she said. \u201cI reached a point where I was constantly begging people for small amounts of money, stealing, and even selling small personal belongings just to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She added that some of the same \u201cSlay Queen\u201d friends she once socialized with including women who are now prominent figures in Rwanda\u2019s entertainment industry eventually abandoned and ignored her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After realizing the seriousness of her addiction, Shakira voluntarily sought rehabilitation, but her initial attempts failed. She was later arrested by security authorities and taken to Gikondo Transit Center, where she spent seven months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shortly after giving birth, she was eventually transferred to Gitagata Rehabilitation Center for further rehabilitation and recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shakira has claimed that some women and girls who have built large followings and glamorous reputations on social media in Rwanda are secretly living the same lifestyle she once lived receiving large sums of money through transactional relationships while presenting different public careers to hide the reality behind their wealth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Shakira, many of these women use other businesses or professions as a cover to make it appear as though their luxurious lifestyles are financed entirely through legitimate work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She said that women who have already gone through such experiences should use whatever money they earned to build stable and respectable businesses instead of continuing in a lifestyle she now believes is destructive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf you have already lived that life and managed to gain even a small amount from it, use it as capital to build a better future,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat happened cannot be erased, and you cannot go back in time to change it, but you can still transform your life. Instead of pretending that your side business is your only source of income, make it become your real and honest work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shakira warned that refusing to leave the lifestyle behind can eventually destroy a person\u2019s life, reputation, and future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf you refuse to use the opportunity you already have to change your life, one day you may end up like me or someone else who lost everything,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI would never wish that kind of life on anyone because, in the end, it is not worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Shakira Mukaruziga, a 34-year-old woman currently undergoing rehabilitation for drug abuse at Gitagata Rehabilitation Center, has shared the painful story behind her rise and fall after years of living a glamorous \u201cSlay Queen\u201d lifestyle in Kigali and Dubai.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":2000111288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[151,70],"byline":[201],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000111287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-editors-choice","tag-main-home-ighlight","byline-rania-umutoni"],"bylines":[{"id":201,"name":"Rania Umutoni","slug":"rania-umutoni","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":139}],"contributors":[{"id":201,"name":"Rania Umutoni","slug":"rania-umutoni","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":139}],"featured_image":{"id":2000111288,"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/davido_ari_mu_bahanzi_b_ibyamamare_bari_inshuti_zas_shakira_akiri_slay_queen-396dd.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":960,"height":960,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/davido_ari_mu_bahanzi_b_ibyamamare_bari_inshuti_zas_shakira_akiri_slay_queen-396dd.jpg","width":150,"height":150},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/davido_ari_mu_bahanzi_b_ibyamamare_bari_inshuti_zas_shakira_akiri_slay_queen-396dd.jpg","width":300,"height":300},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/davido_ari_mu_bahanzi_b_ibyamamare_bari_inshuti_zas_shakira_akiri_slay_queen-396dd.jpg","width":768,"height":768},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/davido_ari_mu_bahanzi_b_ibyamamare_bari_inshuti_zas_shakira_akiri_slay_queen-396dd.jpg","width":960,"height":960},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/davido_ari_mu_bahanzi_b_ibyamamare_bari_inshuti_zas_shakira_akiri_slay_queen-396dd.jpg","width":960,"height":960}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000111287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000111287"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000111287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000111342,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000111287\/revisions\/2000111342"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000111288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000111287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000111287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000111287"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000111287"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000111287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/davido_ari_mu_bahanzi_b_ibyamamare_bari_inshuti_zas_shakira_akiri_slay_queen-396dd.jpg\")
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nHow she connected wealthy men with escorts in Dubai <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Slay Queens\u2019 and the illusion of luxury<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Concerns about spiritual manipulation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/aha_yari_kumwe_na_vincent_kigosi_wamamaye_mu_gukina_filime_muri_tanzania-93b59.jpg\")
Former Kigali \u2018Slay Queen\u2019 linked to Nigerian Billionaire and Husband of Actress Regina Daniels<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Drug addiction and financial collapse<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/shakira_ari_mu_bari_aba-slay_queens_bo_mu_rwanda_bakanyujijeho_mu_myaka_ya_za_2013_kugeza_mu_2022-37a37.jpg\")
Former \u2018Slay Queen\u2019 warns Rwandan women living double lives on social media<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/mukaruziga_shakira_ubu_afashirizwa_mu_kigo_ngororamuco_cya_gitagata_aho_yajyanwe_kubera_gukoresha_ibiyobyabwenge-04c22.jpg\")