Jay-Z opens up on why he cheated on Beyonce in a new interview

While speaking with the New York Times’ Dean Baquet, Jay-Z spoke about some of his personal struggles – including those in his marriage. He said many of these issues stemmed from his experiences growing up in a poor neighbourhood in New York, which taught him to shut down when confronted with difficult emotions.

“You have to survive. So you go into survival mode, and when you go into survival mode what happens? You shut down all emotions,” he said. “So even with women, you gonna shut down emotionally, so you can’t connect.”

He adds: “In my case like it’s, it’s deep. And then all the things happen from there: infidelity…”

The 47-year-old trailed off, and never confirmed that he was referring to his relationship with Beyoncé. But he spoke openly about their marital discord later, when discussing the pair’s most recent albums. Both albums touched on themes of infidelity and marital strife, and set rumour mills abuzz.

Jay-Z described the time period as “uncomfortable,” and hinted that he and Beyoncé may have even considered divorcing.

“You know, most people walk away, and like divorce rate is like 50 percent or something because most people can’t see themselves,” he says. “The hardest thing is seeing the pain on someone’s face that you caused, and then have to deal with yourself.”

Rumours of a divorce swirled last year after Beyoncé released Lemonade. Lyrics such as, “He better call Becky with the good hair“, led fans to speculate whetherJay-Z had been unfaithful to the mysterious Becky.

The rapper appeared to be replying her line to confirm the rumours on his latest album,4:44, with the lyrics: “Yeah, I’ll f*** up a good thing if you let me / Let me alone, Becky.”

But Jay-Z maintains that the couple stayed strong through the difficult time period adding that he believes his wife is amazing.

Source: The Independent.