On Monday (July 3), JAY-Z’s mother, Gloria Carter, reportedly got married to longtime partner Roxanne Wilshire at an unknown location within New York City’s Tribeca neighborhood. According to TMZ, the event was attended by a wealth of big names, including Kelly Rowland, Tyler Perry, Robin Roberts, Corey Gamble, and Tina Knowles. Of course, JAY-Z and wife Beyoncé — along with daughter Blue Ivy and bodyguard Julius de Boer — were also there to see Gloria’s big moment.
As previously reported by REVOLT, Gloria has been open about her sexual orientation, which many learned about through JAY-Z’s 4:44 standout “Smile.” “Mama had four kids, but she’s a lesbian, had to pretend so long that she’s a thespian,” the Brooklyn icon rapped on the No I.D.-produced cut. In an appearance on Memphis Bleek, Rel Carter, and Tom Puzo’s “D’ussé Friday Podcast,” the matriarch admitted her apprehension about the song.
“Me and my son share a lot of information, so I was sitting there, and I was telling him one day, I just finally started telling him who I was,” she revealed. “Besides your mother, this is the person that I am, this is the life that I live. So my son actually started tearing because he was like, ‘That had to be a horrible life, Ma.’ And I was like, ‘My life was never horrible; it was just different.’ So that made him want to do a song about it.”
She continued, “I was never ashamed of me, but my family, it was something that was never discussed. Because everybody knows who I am, I don’t hide who I am… I’m tired of all the mystery. I’m gonna give it to ’em. I don’t have to worry about anybody wondering whether I’m in the life or not — I’m gonna tell them… Now it’s time for me to live my life and be happy, be free.”