Jay-Z’s mother Gloria Carter reportedly married her long-time girlfriend Roxanne Wilshire in Tribeca, New York City over the weekend.
The wedding is said to have been attended by Carter’s friends and family, including her son Jay-Z and his wife and fellow artist, Beyoncé, along with Kelly Rowland, Tina Knowles-Lawson, Tyler Perry, and Robin Roberts.
According to Complex, the wedding reception didn’t conclude until around 1 am on Sunday night (2 July).
The Independent has contacted Carter’s representatives for comment.
Photos published by the Daily Mail showed Beyonce with her and Jay-Z’s daughter, Blue Ivy, 11, dressed up as they walked into the exclusive New York venue Tribeca 360° with Knowles-Lawson.
Jay-Z first opened up about her mother coming out to him on his 2017 track, “Smile”. It was the first time either of them had publicly addressed her sexual orientation.
“Mama had four kids, but she’s a lesbian/Had to pretend so long that she’s a thespian/Had to hide in the closet, so she medicate/Society shame and the pain was too much to take,” he rapped.
“Cried tears of joy when you fell in love/Don’t matter to me if it’s a him or her/I just wanna see you smile through all the hate/Marie Antoinette, baby, let ‘em eat cake.”
Carter also shows up on the track to deliver a spoken-word outro, where she says: “Living in the shadow/Can you imagine what kind of life it is to live?
“In the shadows people see you as happy and free/Because that’s what you want them to see. The world is changing and they say it’s time to be free/But you live with the fear of just being me... Living in the shadow feels like the safe place to be/No harm for them, no harm for me.
“But life is short, and it’s time to be free/Love who you love, because life isn’t guaranteed.”
During an interview with David Letterman on Netflix’s My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, Jay-Z revealed that he was happy when he discovered that his mother fell in love with Wilshire.
“Imagine having to live your life as someone else and you think you’re protecting your kids,” he said in 2018. “For her to sit in front of me and tell me ‘I think I love someone,’ I really cried...I cried because I was so happy for her that she was free.”
Jay-Z continued by describing what happened next was extremely emotional for him: “I cried, that’s a real story. I cried because I was so happy for her that she was free.”
