Since the ‘Pon de Replay’ era, back when the Barbadian singer was only 17 years old and new to the music industry, there have been constant rumours and whispers about an alleged affair between Rihanna and Jay Z.
The rumour re-emerged and came under the spotlight once again after The Daily News got a hold of an unofficial biography about chart sensation Beyoncé, in which the author, J. Randy Taraborrelli, claimed that the now power couple Bey and Jay’s relationship was strained as a result of the rapper’s supposed cheating and led to them separating for a year back in 2005. The celebrity biographer when discussing his book, titled ‘Becoming Beyoncé: The Untold Story’, with Entertainment Tonight explained how he believed the rumour of the affair to be entirely fabricated and made up by Jay Z; that it was this that caused the couple of five years at the time to break up as Beyoncé struggled to comprehend the whole situation.
However, on Friday during an interview with Inside Edition, Rihanna’s former publicist, Jonathan Hay, revealed that it was in fact him who concocted the story of the hook up between Jay Z and the then up-and-coming singer. Coming clean, Hay disclosed that it was used as a publicity stunt with a hope to promote RiRi’s debut single and boost her pop career.
During the interview, Hay issued a long-overdue apology to Beyoncé and demonstrated how he is “ashamed” about his “reckless” move that nearly destroyed the ‘7/11’ singer’s relationship with her now husband.
Hay has expressed how this is a very unfortunate time for this news to come to light as he is currently releasing projects through Jay Z and Beyoncé’s music streaming company Tidal. But noted how he just wanted to put the rumour that the ‘99 Problems’ rapper and Barbados born performer slept together to rest.
Taraborrelli’s book will be released Tuesday 27th October.
So what’s your take on the whole ordeal? Leave us a comment or tweet @CelebMix