Jay-Z On Beyoncé And Infedelity: 'We Were Using Our Art Almost Like A Therapy Session'
After picking up eight Grammy nods for 4:44, Jay Z is back in the news again with his recent admission that he cheated on Beyoncé.
In a tell-all interview with the New York Times' Dean Baquet, Jay Z didn't hold back as he touched on a wide range of topics, including his relationship with Kanye West; his thoughts on Barrack Obama's presidency; his music; and his unfaithfulness to wife Beyoncé. Here's what he had to say about the cheating scandal and how they powered through it to save their marriage.
Cheating On Beyoncé
Over the last few years, the "Empire State of Mind" hitmaker found himself surrounded by rumors that he cheated on Beyoncé and that their marriage was in trouble. Jay Z's infamous elevator spat with sister-in-law Solange Knowles in 2014 after the Met Gala also did not seem to help his cause.
Beyoncé referred to Jay Z's infidelity in her visual magnum opus, Lemonade, and Jay Z also made an allusion to being unfaithful in the title track of 4:44. However, the rapper has never addressed the rumors in public, until now.
When asked about the cheating scandal, Jay Z started off by saying that the current divorce rate is somewhere in the range of 50 percent and that's because most people find it difficult to look at themselves in the mirror after inflicting pain on someone else.
The hardest thing is seeing pain on someone's face that you caused, and then have to deal with yourself," he told Baquet. He added that it was the reason why marriages fail because partners find it easier to just walk away from it instead of dealing with it.
Using Music As A Form Of Therapy
Jay Z and Beyoncé both released confessional albums last year, 4:44 and Lemonade, but the joint album the power couple was working on never saw the light of day.
When Baquet asked Jay Z whether it was easy to have a conversation with Beyoncé about marriage problems while making music, the rapper said that they started making music together as a means to work on their marriage.
"We were using our art almost like a therapy session," he explained. "And we started making music together. And then the music she was making at that time was further along. So, her album came out as opposed to the joint album that we were working on."
Jay Z added that though it was uncomfortable, he and Beyoncé talked through their issues." The best place is right in the middle of the pain," he said.
