Beyoncé ‘Always Knew’ She Would Marry Jay-Z
Beyoncé and Jay-Z will forever be known as music’s most famous couple. For nearly 20 years, the pair have been the hottest celebrity pairing in the world, all while achieving success in the music industry both together and separately. To fans, it seems like Bey and Jay were destined to be husband and wife, and according to the hitmaking singer, it was imminent that they would end up together.
Beyoncé didn’t want to get married before turning 25
Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s relationship began sometime in the early aughts after crossing paths at MTV’s Spring Break Festival in 2000. The pair quickly developed a friendship that they maintained for about a year before deciding to try a romance.
At first, the couple kept their relationship under wraps as they didn’t want the public catching a whiff of their budding relationship. However, after collaborating on Jay’s song “03 Bonnie and Clyde,” rumors surrounding their relationship began storming the media.
It wasn’t until 2004 that everyone finally got confirmation that Bey and Jay were an item when they walked their first red carpet event together at that year’s MTV Video Music Awards.
Over the next few years, the couple didn’t shy away from showing the world just how smitten they were with each other. In fact, their love for one another was so evident that many began to speculate when the two would tie the knot.
But despite being head over heels for one another, Beyoncé and Jay-Z intentionally waited to exchange vows seeing as the “Halo” singer had a rule about marriage.
“I really don’t believe that you will love the same thing when you’re 20 as you do at 30,” Beyoncé explained to Seventeen magazine in 2008, per PopSugar. “So that was my rule: Before the age of 25, I would never get married. I feel like you have to get to know yourself, know what you want, spend some time by yourself, and be proud of who you are before you can share that with someone else.”
Beyoncé knew Jay-Z was the person she was meant to be with
On April 4, 2008, Beyoncé and Jay-Z secretly married inside the rapper’s lavish NYC penthouse. She was 26 at the time.
Six months after saying their “I Do’s,” the “Formation” singer opened up about her top-secret wedding to the rapper, telling Essence magazine that it was written in the stars that they would wed.
“What Jay and I have is real. It’s not about interviews or getting the right photo op. It’s real,” Beyoncé said per People, later adding, “We’ve been together a long time. We always knew it would happen.”
Beyoncé claims she wouldn’t be where she is today without Jay-Z
Since tying the knot, Beyoncé and Jay-Z have maintained a solid marriage. Although they were faced with infidelity issues and breakup rumors, the two continued to put up a united front, all while keeping their marriage in tack.
They’ve also remained dedicated parents to their three children — Blue Ivy Carter and twins Sir Carter and Rumi Carter — and have worked together on multiple business ventures.
Today, Bey and Jay are still happily married as they celebrated their 13th wedding anniversary in April 2021.
In 2013, Beyoncé got candid about her marriage to Jay-Z during an interview with Oprah Winfrey, crediting their strong relationship to the firm foundation they built as friends.
“We were friends first for a year and a half before we went on any dates,” Beyoncé explained. “We were on the phone for a year and a half, and that foundation is so important for a relationship. Just to have someone that you just like is so important, and someone [who] is honest.”
She also shared that Jay-Z doesn’t hold her back from living out her dreams.
“I would not be the woman I am if I did not go home to that man,” she said. “It just gives me such a foundation. [He’s helped me] on so many levels.”
