Beyonce and Jay Z are among the music industry’s favorite couples. But like everyone, they have also experienced marital issues, especially after Jay Z’s admission of infidelity in a 2017 interview with The New York Times . In an ideal situation, Queen Bey should have separated from the rapper, however, she chose not to; and this raised many questions. Then, in 2018, the 99 Problems hitmaker told CNN what it took to glue back the broken pieces of their marriage after he cheated on Beyonce.
While discussing his marital issues with host Van Jones, he said the couple had decided to ‘fight for our love,’ describing his wife as ‘my soul mate, the person I love.’ He further noted that couples have two options: to ‘pretend’ that everything’s ok or actually get to the root cause of the problem and fix it. “For us, we chose to fight for our love, for our family. To give our kids a different outcome. To break that cycle for black men and women,” Jay Z reiterated.
Despite being arguably the most famous couple in the music industry, the rapper told Jones, “We were never a celebrity couple – we were a couple that happened to be celebrities. We are real people.” Hence, keeping their fame and name aside, they worked towards their marriage with the ‘tools to move forward’ and make amends.
2014- Solange and Jay-z altercation in an elevator at the met gala pic.twitter.com/lIk87lP9A8
— BEYGOOD💋❀ (@mimithebeyhive) August 23, 2024
For those who may need a refresher, rumors first began swirling after CCTV footage leaked in 2014 showed Beyonce’s sister Solange Knowles kicking Jay Z in an elevator after the Met Ball. Soon after, many said that the rapper had been unfaithful to Queen Bey. Though, back then, the couple kept quiet about the speculations, the Beautiful Liar hitmaker dropped hints of a rough patch in their marriage in her album Lemonade .
JAY-Z’s apology letter to Beyoncé on his new album; addressing marital issues, miscarriages, and his past. https://t.co/dh4aiV8EXC pic.twitter.com/pMkEdjz0dO
— BEYONCÉ LEGION 𐚁 (@BeyLegion) June 30, 2017
Following that, JayZ released another track 4:44 , in which he admitted to cheating on Beyonce while rapping the lyrics “I apologize often womanize/ Took for my child to be born/ See through a woman’s eyes/ Took for these natural twins to believe in miracles/ Took me too long for this song/ I don’t deserve you.”
Jay-Z finally admitted to cheating on Beyoncé pic.twitter.com/N5XkcKkC1u
— NowThis Impact (@nowthisimpact) December 3, 2017
By 2017, he openly admitted to committing infidelity, blaming his childhood issues. “The hardest thing is seeing pain on someone’s face that you caused, and then have to deal with yourself,” JayZ told the NYT. “You have to survive. So you go into survival mode, and when you go into survival mode, what happens? You shut down all emotions. So, even with women, you gonna shut down emotionally, so you can’t connect. In my case, like, it’s deep. And then all the things happen from there: infidelity.”
I always thought Lemonade was Bey mind fucking the industry but jay really admitted to cheating on 4:44.. this wasn’t part of the plan pic.twitter.com/ntIlcpLH5X
— KUNTYEWEST (@kuntyewest) June 30, 2017
Beyonce and Jay Z, who got married in April 2008 in a super intimate marriage ceremony, persisted in saving their marriage from falling apart. Together, they welcomed their kids Blue Ivy, born in 2012, and twins Rumi and Sir in 2018. The couple worked on their differences within their marriage and the issues between other family members, and in 2024, they are seemingly happy and thriving both professionally and personally.