Jay-Z has opened up about a difficult year spent fending off a 2024 sexual misconduct lawsuit that was ultimately withdrawn by the accuser.
The rapper, whose real name is Shawn Carter, was accused of drugging and raping an unidentified woman in 2000 when she was just 13. The woman, referred to only as Jane Doe, originally filed the civil suit against Sean “Diddy” Combs. However, she later added Jay-Z to the pre-existing lawsuit in December 2024, alleging the pair attacked her after accepting a ride in Combs’ limo to an MTV Video Music Awards afterparty.
Jay-Z, 56, has maintained his innocence, previously branding the accusations a “blackmail attempt.” The woman withdrew her lawsuit in February 2025, with Jay-Z celebrating the dismissal as a “victory.”
In a new interview with GQ, the Grammy-winning artist addressed the toll the lawsuit took on him when asked how he would rate his 2025.
“It was hard. Really hard. I was heartbroken,” he admitted. “I’m glad we got right to that so we could just get that out the way. Like I was really heartbroken by everything that occurred.
“That whole [lawsuit thing], that s*** took a lot out of me,” Jay-Z continued. “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,” he argued. “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.”
He said that “even when we were doing the worst things,” he followed the rule: “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,” the “Empire State of Mind” rapper 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.”
Following the lawsuit’s withdrawal, Jay-Z released a statement, saying: “Today is a victory. The frivolous, fictitious and appalling allegations have been dismissed. This civil suit was without merit and never going anywhere.
“The fictional tale they created was laughable, if not for the seriousness of the claims. I would not wish this experience on anyone,” he said. “The trauma that my wife, my children, my loved ones and I have endured can never be dismissed.”
In March 2025, Jay-Z countersued the woman and her lawyers, Tony Buzbee and David Fortney, accusing them of filing a lawsuit over claims they knew were false.
Lawyers of Jay-Z claimed that Jane Done “voluntarily admitted directly to representatives of Mr. Carter that the story brought before the world in court and on global television was just that: a false, malicious story.”
The woman had previously admitted to NBC News that she had “made some mistakes” in her accusations.
Buzbee added in a statement that Jay-Z’s countersuit had “no legal merit,” claiming the quotes attributed to his client in were “completely made up, or they spoke to someone who isn’t Jane Doe. This is just another attempt to intimidate and bully this poor woman that we will deal with in due course. We won’t be bullied or intimidated by frivolous cases.”
Rape Crisis offers support for those affected by rape and sexual abuse. You can call them on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, and 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland, or visit their website at www.rapecrisis.org.uk. If you are in the US, you can call Rainn on 800-656-HOPE (4673)
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