Jay Z and Beyoncè took the stage together at Tuesday night’s Tidal concert held at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, hours before RadarOnline.com reported on an “explosive new tell-all” that claims the couple had secretly broken up once in 2005, during which Jay Z was rumored to have started romancing his protégé Rihanna.
Celebrity journalist J. Randy Taraborrelli says in his new book Becoming Beyonce: The Untold Story that the couple began fighting in 2005 over her obsessive dedication to work.
“He felt that she was too concerned with [work] and overwhelmed by it…She also had a tendency to become moody and defensive when under great work pressure, and it had begun to drive a wedge between her and Jay,” Taraborrelli writes in his unauthorized biography, available on October 27. “The two broke up for a time during that year. She flat-out told him she needed a break.”
During their secret time apart, rumors swirled that the rapper had begun dating Rihanna, then just 17 years old.
A former member of Rihanna’s camp told Taraborrelli that he made up the affair stories in order to attract attention to the teen’s career. Though the hook-up may not have been true, the author claims Beyonce believed the gossip.
“Beyonce wasn’t sure she could trust Jay when it came to his adamant denials,” he writes. “She couldn’t help but be skeptical.”
The tension exploded into a full-on fight one night at Jay’s 40/40 club in New York.
“All that was heard…was Rihanna’s name uttered several times, before Beyonce stood up and stormed off,” Taraborelli alleges.
Jay eventually won her back in 2006, as Beyonce felt “lost” without her man.
But Rihanna would remain a sore subject in the couple’s relationship, even for years after their 2008 wedding.
Taraborrelli claims Jay’s infamous elevator battle with Beyonce’s little sister Solange after the 2014 Met Gala was over his suggestion that they attend a party hosted by Rihanna.
The goal of the event was to raise funds that would be given to the New World Foundation, an organization that funds social movements. Concert organizers said all money from ticket prices was going to the charity, estimated to be about $1 million.
Jay Z told the crowd the event wasn’t a one-off. “This is our first annual event,” he told the cheering crowd.
At the concert, it was announced that Marley had become one of Tidal’s artist-owners, joining Jay Z, Madonna, Kanye West, Alicia Keys… and Rihanna.
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