He had a lot of work to do.
By Kurtis Condra — Written on Jul 30, 2022
Beyoncé and Jay-Z are one of the music industry's most long-lasting couples.
However, the couple, who have been married since 2008 and share three children, have had their share of turmoil.
Jay-Z's infidelity has almost brought the marriage to an end on a number of occasions but, thanks to some hard work, forgiveness, and some strict rules, the couple seem stronger than ever.
Here are seven rules Beyoncé allegedly made Jay-Z follow to save their marriage.
1. Jay-Z discussed couples therapy on Letterman's show.
In 2018, Jay-Z spoke about his cheating on David Letterman's Netflix show, "My Next Guest Needs No Introduction," and explained how he and Beyonce got past the scandal with couples therapy and putting in the work needed to keep their marriage intact.
"Much like you, I have a beautiful wife who was understanding and who knew I’m not the worst of what I’ve done and we did the hard work of going to therapy,” Jay-Z said. “We love each other, so we really put in the work for years.”
Letterman also opened up about his pre-marital affair and how he felt he blew up his family with the scandal.
Jay-Z agreed and responded by saying, "I like to believe we're in a better place today. I'm proud of the father and the husband that I am today."
2. Jay-z was banned from touching other women.
According to Capital Xtra, Tiffany Haddish once revealed that Beyoncé had to confront an unnamed actress after she got too close to Jay-Z's personal space.
Haddish attended an after-party after one of Jay-Z's concerts, and during the party, she spoke to the rapper and an unnamed woman.
"I was talking to Jay-Z for a little bit, and there was another actress that was there who was also talking to him. She touched Jay-Z's chest and Beyoncé came walking up all serious," Haddish revealed.
Haddish said Beyoncé's demeanor and how she walked up; she had the attitude of "Get your hands off my man's chest."
Haddish didn't go into great detail about the incident, but people suggested it occurred the same night as her iconic "wig-slip" selfie with Beyoncé.
Beyoncé did not comment on the reports made about the incident, but anything is possible when you mess with the Queen Bee.
3. No working with Rihanna.
According to a source who spoke to HollywoodLife exclusively, Beyoncé may have been feuding with Rihanna back in 2016 and stood the way of collaborations between the fellow singer and Jay-Z.
"Rihanna is a person she’s suspicious of, there have been so many rumors over the years about her and Jay it’s hard to know what to believe," the source said.
Jay-Z launched Rihanna to stardom by signing her to his label and features on some of her biggest hits, such as "Umbrella" and "Run This Town."
The pair have good musical chemistry together when collaborating, but Beyoncé doesn't seem to like that.
The exclusive source said, "At this point Beyoncé keeps a very close eye on Jay and Rihanna but he’s not banned from working with her, not yet at least."
So it seems Jay-Z and Rihanna can collaborate, but Beyoncé may need to keep an eye on her man while they work together.
4. Jay-Z had to fix his relationship with Solange.
In 2014 after a Met Gala party, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, and Solange stepped into an elevator, and moments later, Solange lunged at Jay-Z, hitting him multiple times while a security guard had to intervene and Beyoncé had to as well.
It was reported by PEOPLE that Solange had a run-in with designer Rachel Roy, who was rumored to have had an affair with Jay-Z. The outlet claimed, "Solange was provoked by Rachel."
Towards the night's end, Jay-Z allegedly said something inappropriate to Beyoncé, which caused Solange to snap and attacked Jay-Z.
Two months later, Solange said they were all good, but Beyoncé kept the fire going with a remix of her song "Flawless" when she referenced the elevator brawl.
"Of course sometimes s--- goes down when there's a billion dollars on an elevator," the lyrics said.
Jay-Z took responsibility in his 2017 album 4:44, "you egged Solange on, Knowin' all along, All you had to say you was wrong, But you gotta do better, boy you owe it to Blue, You had no father, you had the armor, But you got a daughter, gotta get softer."
5. Beyoncé wanted Jay-Z to distance himself from Kanye West and Kim Kardashian.
While Jay-Z and Kanye were close, it was reported that Beyoncé and Kim Kardashian were distanced from one another.
According to Radar Online, Kim called Beyoncé to try and smooth things over for her and Kanye's relationship with Beyoncé and Jay-Z.
West ranted about Jay-Z before his breakdown, attacking the rapper for not visiting his wife after she was robbed at gunpoint in Paris and lamenting about how their daughter Blue Ivy never had a playdate with North.
Kim tried to ease the tension between everyone, but Beyoncé was reportedly having none of it after West called her out multiple times, on grammy awards and on her and Jay-Z's political stances.
"Basically she told Kim to never, ever, contact her or her husband again and said stuff like she thought that the two of them are made for each other because they are both talentless and pathetic!" wrote Radar.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z are known to keep their lives private, and when Kanye slammed them in public, she didn't take kindly to it.
6. Jay-Z had to publicly apologize for his infidelity.
While it's unknown if Beyoncé made Jay-Z apologize, everyone knows that on his album "4:44," he publicly apologized and addressed his guilt.
"Look, I apologize/ Often womanize," he raps on his title track.
"Took for my child to be born to see through a woman’s eyes/ Took for these natural twins to believe in miracles/ Took me too long for this song, I don't deserve you.” Jay-Z addresses personal moments, and the song ends where it began — with an apology to his wife.
Jay-Z admitted publicly that the rumors of his infidelity were true and opened up his private life to New York Times executive director Dean Baquet.
In his interview, he said, "You have to survive. So you go into survival mode, and when you go into survival mode, what happens? You shut down all emotions."
7. Beyonce got to air out Jay-Z for his infidelity.
When Beyoncé made waves for her album "Lemonade," fans of the Queen Bee began to dissect the lyrics in each song and found that they had at least one reference to the man that cheated on her, Jay-Z.
"Tonight, I regret the night I put that ring on," the lyrics read in "Sorry." In "Pray You Catch Me," she sings, "You can taste the dishonesty, / it's on your breath as you pass it off so cavalier."
The "Visual Album" made one thing clear, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
Beyoncé showed all this in her album, but even after all the drama and deceit, she made it clear that she and Jay-Z would reconcile and fix what was broken.
"So we're gonna heal," she says. "We're gonna start again."
Kurtis Condra covers entertainment, news, and human interest topics for YourTango. He is also a poet based in San Francisco, California. You can keep up with his poetic journey on Instagram.