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Jay Z has made some surprisingly candid comments about his and Beyonce’s relationship as his confessional streak continues.
In a video extra from his new album 4:44 released on Tidal, Jay Z discusses the challenges and difficulties of relationships with some fellow male celebrities, including Chris Rock, Will Smith, and Kendrick Lamar.
“This is my real life. 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 and it starts cracking,” the rapper says in the video.
“Things start happening that the public can see,” he recalled. “Then we had to get to a point of ‘OK, tear this down and let’s start from the beginning.’ It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
He described how the couple, who married in 2008, approached mending their broken relationship with honesty.
“We’ve been in that space where we just got to the place that in order for this to work, it can’t be fake—not once. I’m not saying it wasn’t uncomfortable because obviously it was, but because we’ve been doing it for so long it was less uncomfortable.”
The father of three, after the couple’s twins were born last month, also shared a vulnerable moment when he first began to fall for Queen Bey.
“I was on a boat, and I had the best time. I was like, ‘Man, this is great.’ Then she had to leave. I was, like, crushed. ‘Man, I don’t even feel like this. What is happening to my body right now?’ I don’t even feel like this. Did I just say, ‘Don’t leave?'”
Jay Z admits to cheating on Beyonce in the lyrics of his new album, validating her not-so-subtle hints on Lemonade that he had been unfaithful.
It’s interesting that one of the world’s most adored couples decided to let the public in on their less-than-perfect life. It could be that they worried the details of their troubled marriage would leak to the public anyway, so they wanted to at least control the message. Or, they might have decided their fans would appreciate the honesty, and hoped their relatability – they have problems too! – would help their image and keep them relevant.
At the least, between Lemonade and 4:44 it’ll result in a hell of a lot of album sales.
