Photo: Getty Images
JAY-Z says he was "heartbroken" over everything that happened after he was named in a sexual assault lawsuit.
The seasoned rapper and entrepreneur opened up about the ordeal for the first time during a rare interview for GQ's latest cover story, which dropped on Tuesday, March 24. The conversation begins with Hov's honest reflection of 2025, which was spent defending his name against an unidentified woman who accused him and Sean "Diddy" Combs of sexual assault.
It was hard. Really hard. I was heartbroken," JAY-Z said. "Like I was really heartbroken by everything that occurred."
"That whole [lawsuit thing], that s**t took a lot out of me," he continued. "I was angry. I haven’t been that angry in a long time, uncontrollable anger. You don’t put that on someone—that’s a thing that you better be super sure," he continued. "It used to be like that. You had to be super sure before you put those kind of things on a person. Especially a person like me."
The woman, who only went by "Jane Doe," alleged JAY-Z, born Shawn Carter, and Combs raped her at an afterparty for the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards in New York City when she was 13. The woman and her attorney, Tony Buzbee, named Carter in the lawsuit several months after they filed the original legal complaint against Combs. The news about JAY-Z's addition to the lawsuit broke on the same day Disney held its world premiere of Mufasa: The Lion King, starring Beyoncé and Blue Ivy Carter. Hov said he considered staying home on his daughter's big night to avoid dimming her light.
"Of course, that’s a question because this is her moment," he explained. "But our family, we are a tight unit. Blue has this jersey with 'JAY-Z' on the back. She put it on one day. She went to school with the 'Jay' [points to his back]. I was just in the corner, like tears coming down. Seriously. To have that, it’s priceless. People can say that [they’ll always be there for you], but it’s very rare that you’re going to have to exercise it. And in the darkest moment for me, I got to see those sorts of things."
Hov used all his legal resources to fight back against the claims. He said he would rather die than settle out of court. "I can’t take a settlement—it ain’t in my DNA," he said. "First of all, first I had to tell my wife. Let’s back up. I know the weight that this is going to bring on our family. I can’t do it. I would die."
Jane Doe eventually dropped her lawsuit against JAY-Z and Diddy last month without prejudice, meaning she can't file the charges again. Hov declared victory and filed a defamation lawsuit against Jane Doe and Buzbee. In the court documents, JAY-Z accused Buzbee of using her false allegations against him even though she admitted they weren't true.
JAY-Z also speaks on the 30th anniversary of his debut album Reasonable Doubt, his thoughts on Drake and Kendrick Lamar's beef, J. Cole's success, and more in this rare two-part interview. Watch the entire conversation below.