JAY-Z Talks Relationship Struggles With Beyonce
In an 11-minute mini-documentary for his new album, 4:44, rapper JAY-Z gets candid about the struggles he and Beyoncé faced in their relationship and subsequent marriage, admitting it "wasn't totally built on the 100 percent truth."
"I just ran into this place and we built this big, beautiful mansion of a relationship that wasn't totally built on the 100 percent truth," he said in Footnotes for 4:44 (via People). "Then it starts cracking, and then things start happening that the public can see ... We had to go a point and be like, 'Tear this down,' and then start from the beginning."
JAY-Z also brought up a time in which he begged Beyoncé not to leave him while they were on vacation. "What is happening to my body right now? Did I just say ... 'Don't leave'?" He recalled. "All this is new for me."
"We just got to a place where, in order for this to work, this can't be fake," he went on to say about why he played the confessional 4:44 for Beyoncé before anyone else. "Not one ounce. I'm not saying it wasn't uncomfortable because obviously it was."
Beyoncé and JAY-Z's relationship has faced many public struggles since video of Beyoncé's sister Solange attacking JAY-Z in an elevator leaked to TMZ in 2014. The footage led to reports that JAY-Z had cheated on Beyoncé, possibly with fashion designer Rachel Roy, which was essentially confirmed on Beyoncé's Grammy-winning album Lemonade and 4:44.
They've since reconciled and welcomed twins in June 2017.