Beyoncé & Jay Z Divorce Rumor: Couple Reportedly Takes Off Wedding Rings, Living Separate Lives

Beyoncé and Jay Z are reportedly headed for divorce, with reports that the couple have been faking their relationship for months and is growing ever closer to an official split.

The rumors were sparked by the release of Beyoncé’s album Lemonade, which makes some not-so-subtle allegations that Jay Z has been cheating.

There are now growing signs that Jay Z and Beyoncé could be headed for divorce. Radar Online reported that the couple has been seen without their wedding bands frequently in the past few months, and speculated that they may have removed the wedding band tattoos they got around the time of their wedding.

“Did Beyonce and Jay Z’s love fade as quickly as their tattoos? The A-list couple got matching ink after their 2008 wedding, both getting ‘IV’ on their ring fingers. The Roman Numeral for number 4 is significant for the couple. His birthday is December 4, hers is September 4, and their wedding date was April 4.

“Jay Z was spotted without his actual wedding band frequently over the past few months, but his ring tattoo seemed to fade over time too.”

The couple have been the subject of frequent divorce rumors, including a months-long stretch in the summer of 2014 in which it appeared that Jay Z and Beyoncé were constantly on the brink of divorce. The marital problems came after Jay Z and Beyoncé’s sister, Solange Knowles, got into a fight after the Met Gala in the spring. It was later reported that Solange was angry at Jay Z for his close relationship with friend Rachel Roy, and upset at the other allegations of the rapper’s affairs.

That "Lemonade" is not a divorce announcement is part of what makes this album and film so beautiful https://t.co/pZeg01y9M9

— New York Post (@nypost) April 25, 2016

The problems followed Jay Z and Beyoncé through their joint summer tour, with allegations that Jay Z was cheating on his wife with a number of young stars, including Rita Ora and Mya.

“She’s heard all the rumors about Jay fooling around, and she can’t take it anymore. The romance is over,” In Touch magazine claimed in a report during the summer of 2014. “He was toasting champagne with the crew and friends and some women who were brought back stage. Beyonce seethed when she saw a busty blonde nuzzling into Jay’s chest and him whispering something into her ear.”

The divorce rumors have popped up again from time to time, including a Radar Online report from December that the couple were getting into public fights and living entirely separate lives inside their sprawling mansion.

In Touch also reported in September that Beyoncé was on “lockdown mode” and was growing more and more tired of putting on a good face for the public.

That may explain her very public airing of the couple’s dirty laundry in Lemonade. The hints that Jay Z is cheating and the mysterious reference to “Becky with the good hair” has the internet buzzing and searching desperately to identify just who that might be. Speculation has fallen on at least a half-dozen different women — including both Rachel Roy and Rita Ora — and has even led to some dirty laundry coming out about Jay Z’s romantic past.

Karrine Steffans, famous for appearing in music videos and for her relationship with Lil Wayne, recently penned a story for XOJANE in which she detailed a brief hook-up with Jay Z close to 15 years ago, revealing that she was one of his “Beckys.”

Only there was a catch — it all happened before Jay Z and Beyoncé started dating.

“This was pre-Yoncé, of course, but the fact is that a Becky is a Becky, and I was the Becky for many men, and they were all my salvation and my destitution. They were my reason and my rationale, my life and my death, and eventually, my fame and my infamy.”

There could still be another explanation for the divorce rumors circling Jay Z and Beyoncé. Back in late summer 2014, Beyoncé’s father, Matthew Knowles, hinted that the alleged marital strife was all a ploy to draw attention to the couple’s summer tour. So it may not be coincidence that the rumors are starting again as Beyoncé releases a new album and is looking for as much attention as possible.

[Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images]