Newly resurfaced photos prove the longstanding rumors that Jay-Z began courting Beyoncé when she was still an underaged minor in high school.
Questions surround the actual date they met amid new allegations of r*pe against Jay-Z.
In an amended lawsuit on Sunday, a woman claims she was drugged and r*ped by Jay-Z and Sean Combs when she was only 13. The incident happened at an after-party for the 2000 MTV VMAs.
Jay Z is pictured in the audience during the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on Sept. 7, 2000.
Beyoncé always insisted that she met the rapper when she was 18 and he was 30. She claims they were friends and their relationship did not turn serious until she was 19.
Now new photos prove she actually met Jay-Z when she was 16 – not 18.
Beyoncé and Destiny’s Child recorded their hit song “No, No, No” when she was only 15. The newly resurfaced photos show Jay-Z on the set of the music video for “No, No, No.”
Jay Z was pictured watching 16-year-old Beyoncé perform with Destiny’s Child at the Prime Time 21 nightclub in North Dallas in January 1998 — 9 months before she turned 17.
Jay Z is seen with Beyoncé, then 19, weeks after they attended the MTV Music Awards in 1999. Beyoncé and Jay-Z have been married for 16 years. They share three children – Blue Ivy, 12, and twins Rumi and Sir, 7.
Jay-Z and Beyoncé supported their daughter Blue Ivy at the “Mufasa: The Lion King” premiere on Monday. Blue Ivy provides voiceover work in the movie.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s surprise appearance at the premiere came amid shocking child assault allegations made against Jay-Z on Sunday.
Sources say Beyoncé and Jay-Z made a last minute decision to attend the premiere to show a united front with her mom Tina Knowles for damage control.
Knowles stunned Instagram users earlier in the day by ‘liking‘ a post about the assault allegations.
The Instagram post ‘liked’ by Knowles read: “Breaking News: Jay-Z, Diddy Named in Lawsuit Alleging R*pe of Girl, 13.”
Fans speculated that Tina Knowles ‘liked’ the post because she is relieved that the world finally knows the truth about her son-in-law.
But Knowles, 70, denied liking the Instagram post. She claimed her account was “hacked.” The hackers only ‘liked’ one post and left the rest of her page untouched.
“I was Hacked !” Knowles wrote on Instagram. “As you all know I do not play about my family. So if you see something uncharacteristic of me . Just know that it is not me !”
On Monday evening, she deleted her ‘like’ from the post and disabled the comment section.