“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”.
That were the lyrics to the song ‘ Smile’ on Jay-Z’s album 4:44, when he told the world that his mother is a lesbian.
Gloria Carter is the mother to Hip hop legend Jay-Z.
She singlehandedly raised all four of her children including Jay-Z, when her husband Adnis Reeves abandoned them.
Jay-Z in an interview with David Letterman said he cried happy tears, when his mother told him that she was a lesbian.
He said; ” Imagine having lived your life for someone else. And you think you’re protecting your kids. And for my mother to have to live as someone that she wasn’t and hide and like, protect her kids _ and not want to embarrass her kids, and you know, for all this time”,.
He continued; “And for her to sit in front of me and tell me, I think I love someone”.
“I mean, I really cried, that’s a real story. I cried because I was so happy for her that she was free”.
