Jay-Z’s mother is a married woman. In 2017, the rapper and hip-hop mogul discussed his mom’s coming out story on a song, “Smile,” noting how it brought him to tears after years of her suppressing her sexuality in order to protect her two sons. “Mama had four kids, but she’s a lesbian/Had to pretend so long that she’s a thespian/Had to hide in the closet, so she medicate/Society shame and the pain was too much to take,” he rapped at the time. “Cried tears of joy when you fell in love/Don’t matter to me if it’s a him or her/I just wanna see you smile through all the hate/Marie Antoinette, baby, let ’em eat cake.” And recently, she wed her longtime partner in a ceremony in New York.
PEOPLE Magazine reports Jay’s mother, Gloria Carter, and Roxanne Wiltshire exchanged vows in a ceremony that took place in the Tribeca neighborhood in New York City. Several celebrity guests were in attendance, including her famous son, his wife Beyoncรฉ, Kelly Rowland, Tina Knowles-Lawson, Tyler Perry, and Robin Roberts.
Videos by PopCulture.com
Both Jay and his mom have spoke publicly about the defining moment they shared. While speaking with David Letterman, the “It’s a Hard Knock Life” rapper said of his mother: “Imagine having to live your life as someone else and you think you’re protecting your kids,” he said in 2018. “For her to sit in front of me and tell me ‘I think I love someone,’ I really cried…I cried because I was so happy for her that she was free.”
Gloria spoke with the D’Usse podcast after “Smile” was released and reflected on her life and coming out to her son. “I was sitting there and I was telling him one day. I just finally started telling him who I was. Besides your mother, this is the person that I am, you know? This is the life that I lived,” she said. “So my son started actually, like, tearing because he was like, ‘That had to be a horrible life, Ma.’ I was like, ‘My life was never horrible. It was just different.’ So that made him want to do a song about it.”
