Jay-Z felt "heartbroken" and battled "uncontrollable anger" after he was falsely accused of sexual assault.
The 56-year-old rapper was left reeling in 2024 when an anonymous woman filed a lawsuit alleging she was attacked at an MTV Video Music Awards afterparty in 2000 by Jay-Z and fellow hip-hop star Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs when she was just 13 years old. Jay-Z - real name Shawn Carter - vehemently denied the claims at the time and the lawsuit was later voluntarily withdrawn.
Now the hip-hop star has revealed the legal battle took a heavy toll on him as it was "really hard" for him to deal with. He told GQ magazine: "It was hard. Really hard. I was heartbroken ...
"Like I was really heartbroken by everything that occurred. We’re in a space now where it’s almost like consequence is not thought about enough. Because everything is so instant, you know what I’m saying?"
He went on to add he was left furious by the whole ordeal, saying: "That whole [lawsuit thing], that s*** took a lot out of me. I was angry.
"I haven’t been that angry in a long time, uncontrollable anger. You don’t put that on someone - that’s a thing that you better be super sure.
"It used to be like that. You had to be super sure before you put those kind of things on a person. Especially a person like me.
"Even when we were doing the worst things, we had those kind of rules. There was a line: no women, no kids.
"You hear those sayings, but those are the things that I took from the street. We lived and died by that. So it’s strict for me, like it meant a lot to me."
Jay-Z added: "I took that really hard. I knew that we were going to walk through that because, first of all, it’s not true. And the truth, at the end of the day, still reigns supreme."
In the interview, Jay-Z revealed the hardest moment was having to tell Beyonce about the false claims and he insisted he never considered settling the suit.
He said: "First of all, first I had to tell my wife. Let’s back up. I know the weight that this is going to bring on our family. I can’t do it [settle]. I would die.
"If I settled - make that thing go away. And for me, it would’ve been cheaper? Yes. Cheaper, quicker, move on with your life. I knew what was coming. I wasn’t naive."
Jay-Z went on to add that he's "still dealing with" the emotional fall-out from the ordeal.
The 99 Problems star previously denied the woman's claims in a statement in which he expressed his concerns for his children, who may read about the allegations in the future.
The statement read: "Whomever would commit such a crime against a minor should be locked away, would you not agree?
"These alleged victims would deserve real justice if that were the case. My only heartbreak is for my family.
"My wife and I will have to sit our children down, one of whom is at the age where her friends will surely see the press and ask questions about the nature of these claims, and explain the cruelty and greed of people. I mourn yet another loss of innocence."
After the lawsuit was withdrawn, Jay-Z went on to file a defamation case against his accuser and her lawyers. A judge dismissed the lawsuit five months later.
