How Old Was Beyoncé When She Started Dating Jay-Z?
Beyoncé and Jay-Z are one of the longest-lasting and most beloved celebrity couples in the entertainment industry. The pair has been together for more than two decades and continues to show the world that despite life’s challenges, their love conquers all.
Unlike most people who find their soulmates later in life, Beyoncé and Jay-Z were pretty young when they fell in love as the singer had just reached adulthood when her relationship with the rapper began.
Beyoncé met Jay-Z when she was 18
Bey and Jay were already well-established in the music industry by the time they first crossed paths.
The pair met in 2000 at the MTV Spring Break festival in Cancún. Beyoncé was just 18 years old at the time and performing with Destiny’s Child, while Jay-Z was changing the rapping game at 30 years old.
In Jay-Z’s song “713” off of his and Beyoncé joint album, Everything Is Love, he rapped about meeting the singer for the first time, saying it was fate that brought them together.
“We played it cool at the pool of the Cancun, VMA / Confidence you exude make the fools stay away / Me, I played my room, let the fools have they say / Fate had me sittin’ next to you on the plane / And I knew straight away,” he rapped, referencing the plane ride that had them sitting together following the festival.
The couple didn’t start dating until two years later
Although they had hit it off during their initial meeting, Beyoncé and Jay-Z didn’t become romantically involved at that time due to the singer being in a relationship with her first boyfriend.
But despite not being available at that time, Beyoncé still made an effort to talk to Jay-Z on the phone. While speaking with Oprah Winfrey in 2013, the singer said that those phone calls were important in building their relationship.
“We were friends first for a year and a half before we went on any dates,” she 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 who you just like is so important, and someone [who] is honest.”
It wasn’t until Beyoncé was 20-years-old that she and Jay-Z went out on their first date, which the rapper said he flubbed in the song “713.”
“You came back, I let you set the date, Nobu on the plate / I brought my dude to play it cool, my first foolish mistake,” he rapped.
Though that wasn’t the ideal first date, it didn’t stop Beyoncé from falling for Jay-Z as they officially began dating not long after.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z have been together ever since
Unlike most celebrity couples who go public with their relationship as soon as they become exclusive, Beyoncé and Jay-Z waited a few years to tell the world they were a couple.
Though fans speculated that they were dating, Bey and Jay didn’t confirm their romance until 2004 when they walked that year’s MTV Video Music Awards red carpet together.
From there, Beyoncé and Jay-Z were often spotted together, either attending A-list events, performing alongside one another, or traveling the world.
After seven years of dating, the couple tied the knot on April 4, 2008, inside the rapper’s New York City penthouse.
Today, the pair are still happily married with three children — Blue Ivy Carter and twins Sir and Rumi Carter — and successful empires on their hands.
Though they have experienced tough times together over the years, Beyoncé cherishes the relationship she has with Jay-Z, who has not only remained by her side through thick and thin but has ultimately made her a better person.
“I was 20 years old when we first started dating. You taught me how to be a woman,” Beyoncé said to Jay-Z in her 2013 HBO documentary Life Is But a Dream. “You taught me how to live. How to be a friend. You’ve given me so much in life, and this is not enough. There’s not enough I can give you. I just want you to be happy. Every year, I’m even more in love with you and I want to spend every day of my life with you.”
