The Biggest Rumors About Beyonce And Jay-Z
One of the music industry's most iconic couples is none other than Beyoncé Knowles and Jay-Z. The couple's love story began in 2000 when they crossed paths on a plane ride to Cancun for an MTV Spring Break event. What began as a friendship eventually morphed into a relationship, and the duo went on their first date in 2001. While they didn't officially announce their relationship publicly until 2004, their love for each other was evident in their music. The power couple had previously collaborated on hit tracks like the 2003 single "Crazy In Love" and the 2002 track "03 Bonnie and Clyde."
Beyoncé and Jay-Z got married in an intimate wedding ceremony in 2008. The pair then went on to welcome three children together, their daughter, Blue Ivy in 2012, and twins Sir and Rumi in 2017. The Grammy award-winning musicians are easily one of the most watched couples in the industry. While their marriage has stood the test of time, especially by Hollywood standards, it hasn't been without its ups and downs — we all remember Beyoncé's Lemonade, after all. Rumors of a breakup, infidelity, and family troubles have swirled around the couple for as long as they've been linked. However, they have stuck by each other's side, despite the court of public opinion. Not even Becky with the good hair could come between the biggest rumors about Beyonce and Jay-Z.
Did Rachel Roy inspire Beyonce's Lemonade album?
Netizens have long wondered who "Becky with the good hair" is. Beyoncé's iconic line came from her 2016 visual album "Lemonade," which was filled with tracks about a scorned lover and a broken relationship. Listeners quickly connected the dots, and it sparked speculation that Jay-Z had cheated on his wife. In her track "Sorry" the Grammy-winning artist drops some shocking lines including, "He only want me when I'm not there. He better call Becky with the good hair."
Jay-Z eventually owned up to being unfaithful in his marriage during an interview with The New York Times in 2017. Discussing his positive experiences with therapy, the rapper described how he realized putting on a tough exterior had affected his relationships. "So even with women, you gonna shut down emotionally, so you can't connect," he said. "... In my case, like, it's deep. And then all the things happen from there: infidelity."
So who was Becky with the good hair? One rumor suggested it was fashion designer Rachel Roy, a former intern for Rocawear, a clothing company co-founded by Jay-Z. In a since-deleted Instagram post made in the wake of "Lemonade," she caught heat for appearing to reference "Sorry" with the photo caption, "Good hair don't care, but we will take good lighting, for selfies, or self truths, always. Live in the light." In a statement published by People, Roy denied rumors of an affair and suggested her Instagram post had been misinterpreted.
Solange Knowles fought with Jay-Z in an elevator
It was the elevator fight seen around the world. Shortly after the 2014 Met Gala, Beyoncé's sister Solange Knowles got into a physical altercation with Jay-Z. In surveillance video obtained by TMZ, Solange could be seen seemingly lunging for the rapper, kicking and hitting him while Beyoncé attempted to intervene. While the trio remained hush-hush about why the fight occurred, varying sources alleged different causes.
One source claimed to Daily News that the argument started after an allegedly drunken Solange was angry with her brother-in-law for planning to go to Rihanna's afterparty without his wife. Another insider spoke to People, claiming that Beyoncé's sister had a run-in with designer Rachel Roy earlier in the night which set her off. Jay-Z was furthermore said to have made an inappropriate comment which ultimately fanned the flames of the dispute further. "When they got in the elevator, it escalated quickly the way family tensions can," the source told People.
In a statement released to the Associated Press (per CNN), the Knowles family denied rumors that Solange had been acting erratic and intoxicated prior to the incident and suggested that both she and Jay-Z had accepted their share of responsibility for what transpired. "They both acknowledge their role in this private matter that has played out in the public," the statement read. "They both have apologized to each other and we have moved forward as a united family."
Was Becky with the good hair about Rita Ora?
While fans may never know who the true Becky is, it doesn't stop them from making some ballpark guesses — including roping Rita Ora into the mystery. The "Poison" singer had a close relationship with the rapper, having been signed to his label Roc Nation for nearly a decade. When she later sued Roc Nation for neglect after releasing just one album during her tenure, the label countersued the star, with both parties privately settling the case in 2016, per Complex.
After leaving Roc Nation, Ora's drama with Jay-Z wasn't over. Fans accused the singer of having an affair with the rapper after she posted a Snapchat photo in which she sported a bra featuring lemons and a necklace that seemed to don the letter J. The photo was posted just a few days before the release of "Lemonade." However, Ora denied that there was any deeper meaning to the image or that she was indeed the Becky that fans were hunting for. Addressing the rumors on an episode of "Louis Theroux Interviews..." (via NME) in 2022, she explained, "Oh my god, it literally was a coincidence. I didn't even think about it, I swear. And it wasn't a J, it was an R. They flipped it 'round and then it looked like a J." As for the bra with lemons, she claimed, "No, it had nothing [to do with it]. No, that was my own design with an underwear company called Tezenis that I was working with."
Did Jay-Z and Gwyneth Paltrow hook up?
The "Becky with the good hair" rumor mill continued into 2018 when Amber Rose shared her shocking theory about who the mystery woman could be. During an appearance on the "The Speidi Podcast," the model and activist suggested, "They were like friends, and then ... you don't see Gwyneth Paltrow with Beyoncé anymore. It just seems like she was the one that was f***ing Jay-Z, and now Gwyneth lost her husband, but like Beyoncé's still with Jay."
Indeed, during a January 2015 appearance on "The Howard Stern Show," Paltrow had admitted that she had a great relationship with the couple, saying, "They are funny and sweet and self-aware and really intelligent." The actor finalized her divorce from Chris Martin three months later and got engaged to Brad Falchuk in 2017. However, Jay-Z and Beyoncé were notably absent from the couple's engagement party and their 2018 wedding.
In a statement, a representative for Paltrow denied the rumors that she had hooked up with Jay-Z, telling Us Weekly, "It is completely absurd and 100 percent false." Despite the speculation, a source assured People that the actor is still close friends with Beyoncé and Jay-Z — even if they aren't proudly displaying their friendship at events or discussing it in interviews ianymore. Meanwhile, an insider close to Rose also shut down the rumors, telling People that the model was just joking when she made the claims on the podcast.
Casey Cohen was accused of sleeping with Jay-Z
Reality star Casey Cohen has words for those who think she had an affair with Jay-Z. For anyone who may be unfamiliar, Cohen is an indoor cycling trainer based in New York City who also starred in the Bravo series "Princesses: Long Island," which documents the lives of single Jewish women living at their parent's home. As reported by TMZ, in 2014 the personal trainer denied tabloid gossip that alleged she'd slept with the rapper. In fact, she was so adamantly against the rumor that she sent a cease and desist letter to Bauer Media Group, the publisher of the tabloid magazines in question, stating that she and Jay-Z hadn't ever indulged in a romantic or physical affair. She described the rumor as "foul and phony."
In the letter, Cohen admitted she had met both Jay-Z and Beyoncé through her job in New York City, where she works as a VIP hostess. As of the time of writing, it is unclear how Bauer and Cohen settled the dispute.
Model LIV claims Jay-Z asked for her number
Musician LIV got the internet talking when she released the track "Sorry Mrs. Carter" in 2014 which alleged that Jay-Z had romantically pursued her. "When I stepped out his life I took a piece of his heart," she rapped. "I know he still close his eyes and see me in the dark." The model told Radar that she first met the "Empire State of Mind" rapper in Miami in 2008 at a Budweiser commercial shoot. "He was nothing but a gentleman. It was one of those things where we really connected. We talked, and left each other on that note," she said, claiming that she initially refused an attempt by Jay-Z's bodyguard to give the rapper her number.
LIV told Hollywood Life that she bumped into Jay-Z once more in Miami with Solange present, and the two finally exchanged numbers but never ran into each other again. However, she insisted that she was never insinuating they'd had an affair with the track. "I was saying I was given the opportunity to compromise myself and I took the route to not do that," she added.
Before her fifteen minutes of fame were seemingly up, the artist apologized to Beyoncé, telling Hollywood Life, "The reason I didn't go there and pursue something with Jay is because of Beyonce. It's not intentional to hurt her or embarrass her or put her business out there." It begs the question, is making a targeted rap calling out Mrs. Carter supposed to make Queen B feel better?
Are Beyoncé and Jay-Z involved in the illuminati?
Of the many rumors that surround Beyoncé and Jay-Z, their alleged involvement in the Illuminati is one of the strangest. Those who believe that the Illuminati is real and active, suggest that they're a secret society made up of the world's most powerful and influential people ... and Satan too, maybe? They're thought to control the rest of the world through secret codes and symbols, concealing messages in art forms like music and pop culture.
As a result, there are those who are convinced that the musical power couple has laced their work with references to their apparent secret, shady activities. For instance, there are still masses of people on TikTok convinced that if you play "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)" in reverse that you can hear Beyoncé making Satanic statements. Other bizarre theories have included suggestions that Beyoncé isn't Black but Italian and that the star was positioned as the new queen of pop following Aailyah's tragic 2001 death, which theorists suggested was orchestrated by the Illuminati, per Rolling Stone. Jay-Z's signature hand signal has also been accused of having ties to the Illuminati. The triangular shape is apparently meant to symbolize a diamond, though his detractors believe it's more likely in reference to the Eye of Providence.
Suffice to say, it's probably best to take this wild speculation with a pinch of salt. Nonetheless, in 2016, Beyoncé served the musical equivalent of an eye-roll when she addressed the rumors in her song "Formation," singing, "Y'all haters corny with that Illuminati mess."
Beyoncé was accused of faking a baby bump
Beyoncé's first pregnancy with her daughter Blue Ivy was a huge moment in the singer's life. She announced the news at the MTV VMAs in 2011, and it seemed like the whole world was cheering her on. However, rumors that the star was faking her baby bump later emerged online following an appearance on the Australian television show "Sunday Night." Some viewers suggested that her stomach appeared to deflate when she sat down for her interview, with the chatter of a potential prosthetic baby bump soon spiraling into what some called "bump gate."
A year later, Beyoncé denied the rumors, telling People, "That was crazy. It wasn't hurtful, it was just crazy. [I thought] 'Where did they come up with this?'" Her mother, Tina Knowles, also defended her daughter to the outlet. "I thought it was very unfair and very cruel that someone would think that someone would be that diabolical to keep up a charade like that for nine months," she commented. Tina also spoke out against the claim suggesting Beyoncé's bump deflated, saying "It was a fabric that folded — does fabric not fold? Oh my gosh, so stupid."
The "Single Ladies" singer put all the gossip to rest when she gave birth to Blue Ivy in 2012, where she was rumored to have spent over $1 million dollars to rent out an entire floor of Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City for privacy. And after all those outlandish "bump gate" rumors, who can blame her?
Beyoncé and Jay-Z were rumored to be getting a divorce
Beyoncé and Jay-Z have been married for nearly two decades, but rumors about a possible divorce plagued their relationship for years. The 2014 elevator incident in which Solange got into a physical altercation with her brother-in-law fueled gossip that the pair was headed for a split. That same year, the New York Post reported that the "Black Parade" singer was spotted shopping for an apartment in New York without her husband. "She was very quiet as if she was looking on the sly," a source told the outlet.
That same year, Beyoncé sparked more rumors when the tattoo she got in place of an engagement ring seemed to have either been removed or faded. Following the speculation, Beyoncé's mother Tina shut down the gossip in an interview with TMZ. "You want to give me an opportunity to set the record straight? How kind of you," she said sarcastically, before adding that the couple was doing just fine and dandy.
Between Jay-Z's confirmed infidelity and Beyoncé spilling the tea on it all by releasing "Lemonade," the world thought the stars would call it quits for good. On the contrary, their respective work seemed to help them through. "[We] were using our art almost like a therapy session. And we started making music together," Jay-Z told The New York Times. "... [It] was uncomfortable. And we had a lot of conversations. You know. [I was] really proud of the music she made, and she was really proud of the art I released."