When we heard the rumors circulating this week that our September cover girl Shakira and her longtime boyfriend Antonio de la Rua had gotten hitched in a secret ceremony in the Dominican Republic, we found it very hard to believe. Although the couple has been together since 2000 and de la Rua proposed in 2001, Shakira has repeatedly said she doesn't feel the need to get married.

Shakira's rep tells Latina.com that there is "no truth" to the marriage rumors. The singer casually wears her engagement ring on her middle finger and talked to us about their relationship, saying, “Antonio and I have a really great relationship. I’m not going to say it’s perfect, because it’s not, but we’re very united as a couple and I don’t see how we could be any closer by signing a piece of paper…I like to think of myself as his eternal girlfriend. I could stay in that state forever.”