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.





