Photos have emerged of Jay-Z, aged 28, with 16-year-old Beyonce which call into question her claim that she was 18 when they first struck up a friendship.
The early days of their relationship have come under renewed scrutiny after the rapper, 55, was hit with a civil lawsuit that claims he sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl on September 7, 2000 after the MTV Video Music Awards with Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, but insists he is the victim of a ‘blackmail attempt’.Weeks after the alleged incident, Jay-Z, then 30, was pictured publicly with 19-year-old Beyonce for the first time and according to her account, this was the age she was when they started dating.
According to Beyonce’s account, they met when she was 18 and were friends for a year before things turned romantic, but the Young Forever hitmaker has said he met his future wife when she was 16 – and vowed that ‘she will be mine’. He was 28 years old at the time. Now a photo, believed to be taken on the set of Destiny’s Child’s video for No, No, No, proves that they did indeed meet two months after Beyonce turned 16,
although there is no suggestion that anything happened between them at the time. Furthermore, another resurfaced image shows Jay-Z at the Prime Time 21 nightclub in North Dallas on January 31, 1998, watching 16-year-old Beyonce in Destiny’s Child during their first live performance in the city.
