Rapper Jay-Z’s mother has told how her son supported her over her sexuality when she shared with him “who I am”.
Gloria Carter spoke of telling her son that she was gay as she was presented with a special recognition gong at the GLAAD Media Awards, for her contribution to Jay-Z’s song Smile.
She told the audience: “Smile became a reality because I shared with my son who I am. For me, this was the first time that I spoke to anyone about who I really am.
“My son cried and said, ‘It must have been horrible to live that way for so long’. My life wasn’t horrible. I chose to protect my family from ignorance. I was happy but I was not free.”
Jay-Z has previously told how he cried with joy when his mother spoke to him about being a lesbian and of being in love with her female partner.
“For my mother, to have to live as someone that she wasn’t and hide and protect her kids for all this time, and for her to sit in front of me and tell me, ‘I think I love someone’ – I really cried,” he told David Letterman on his Netflix talk show.
He said he had long known she was gay, but the pair only had their first conversation about it last year.
Their chat came about while Jay-Z was making his latest album 4.44.
“This was the first time we had the conversation, and the first time I heard her say she loved her partner,” he said.
Her sexuality was revealed in Smile, a track on 4.44, which was released last year.