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The end of 2024 should be a celebratory time for Beyoncé, especially after the success of her first country album and after learning last month that she had become the most nominated music artist in Grammy history.

But now the megastar is facing “heartbreak” after her husband, Jay-Z was accused in a lawsuit of raping a 13-year-old girl with his longtime friend and collaborator Sean “Diddy” Combs at an afterparty of the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. The blockbuster accusation against Jay-Z, a billionaire rapper and hip-hop mogul, comes as part of the flurry of lawsuits against Combs, who faces federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges and at least 30 lawsuits accusing him of sexual misconduct. reported the New York Times.

In a fiery statement, Jay-Z angrily denied the rape allegations as he lamented how the “horrific” claims will harm his famous wife and their three children. People signed up. On Monday, Jay-Z’s lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit against him, saying the plaintiff’s Texas-based attorney, Tony Buzbee, is pursuing a “cynical,” “calculated” and “large-scale extortion scheme.” . Page six and other outlets reported.

But legal experts said Jay-Z’s motion may not end his Combs-related legal drama. The 55-year-old is also facing criticism over his personal behavior over the years, including his friendship with Combs, his sometimes turbulent relationship with Beyonce, 43, and questions about when and how their romance began, according to to page six And the Daily Post.

“This could go either way for Jay-Z,” former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani said in an email to this news organization. ‘This will be a one-off case that he will have to defend, and possibly settle. Or this will become a #MeToo situation, other victims will come forward and Jay-Z will be the next Diddy,” Rahmani added. president from Los Angeles-based West Coast Trial Lawyers.

“The question is: Will the NFL and other celebrities distance themselves from him if that happens?” Rahmani asked, referring to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, which was responsible for production the halftime show of the Super Bowl.

“What about Beyoncé?” Rahmani also asked.

Yeah, what about Beyoncé? Although she and Jay-Z have put on a united front over the years, both have revealed that the marriage hasn’t always been smooth sailing.

In a 2017 interview that Jay-Z did with the New York Times, the rapper admitted that he had been unfaithful to Beyonce, to whom he had been married for nine years at the time. She talked about his cheating in her visual album ‘Lemonade’, when she sang about ‘Becky with the good hair’ in her song ‘Sorry’. He spoke to the Times about being in an “uncomfortable” place that they had to work through.

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

The couple’s relationship has long been a source of fascination for fans and the general public, even if their origin story remains a bit vague, according to the Daily Mail.

At some point they are said to have met for the first time sometime in 1999 or 2000, when she was 18 and he was 30 – an age difference that raised eyebrows, according to the Daily Mail. That time frame also overlaps with the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards.

In interviews, both have spoken about their friendship for about a year and a half before their romance began. Beyonce told Seventeen magazine in 2008, “I was 18 when we first met, 19 when we first started dating.” According to the Daily Mail, she also told Oprah Winfrey in 2013. “We were friends for a year and a half before we started dating.”

But Jay-Z himself said that their paths first crossed a few years earlier, when she was 16. In 2013, Jay-Z wrote a bubbly Instagram post about how he first ‘saw’ his future wife when she was 16 and thought “she’ll be mine,” the Daily Mail reported.

However, in this Instagram post and in interviews, both Jay-Z and Beyonce emphasized that nothing romantic would ever happen until after she turned 18.

The pair confirmed their relationship when they appeared on the cover of Variety magazine in November 2001, with Jay-Z telling the publication that they “just started trying to date each other.” They married in 2008.

Their 16-year marriage now faces another serious test, as Jay-Z admitted in the statement he gave to the media on Sunday.

“My only heartbreak is for my family,” the rapper said, according to People. “My wife and I will have to sit down our children, one of whom is at the age when her friends will surely see the press and ask questions about the nature of these claims, and explain the cruelty and greed of people.”

Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, added: “I mourn another loss of innocence.” The couple shares 12-year-old daughter Blue Ivy and 7-year-old twins Rumi and Sir.

The lawsuit against Jay-Z was originally filed in October, with an unnamed woman accusing Combs and an anonymous male celebrity of raping the 13-year-old at the afterparty. Combs has denied all allegations of sexual assault and misconduct and has pleaded not guilty to the federal criminal charges against him.

The woman amended the lawsuit Sunday to name Jay-Z as the other celebrity, claiming in the lawsuits that he and Combs took turns raping her after she arrived at the party and drank some of a drink that made her feel ” felt hazy and light-headed. reported the New York Times.

Jay-Z called the claims “idiotic” and said he came from a world where “we protect children.”

His “aggressive” stance against the lawsuit is likely necessarily to defend himself legally and to “protect his brand in the eyes of the public … with the goal of showing that he is the victim,” said entertainment attorney Tre Lovell from Los Angeles also in an email. .

But if Jay-Z wants to save his reputation, it will ultimately come down to the evidence, whether it supports Jay-Z’s claim that he is the victim of an extortion scheme.

“If it becomes clear that Jay-Z likely did not commit these acts, and there is no good faith belief that he did, then his lawsuit will move up a notch,” Lovell said. “Victims cannot threaten to sue celebrities based on allegations that are certain to damage their reputation or brand without a good faith belief that the claims are true.”

But if Jane Doe had a “good faith basis” for her claims, Jay-Z won’t get far with his “extortion” allegations, Lovell said.

Originally published: December 9, 2024 at 2:49 PM PST