For the first time in nine years, singer and entrepreneur Kelis is opening up about the violent marriage she had with rapper Nas and the bitter custody battle that ensued after their divorce.
“I have edited myself for nine years and I woke up this morning and was like, ‘Not today,’ Kelis tells Hollywood Unlocked Thursday, April 26. She noted the couple had “really intense highs and really intense lows.”
“It was never normal,” she says. “An intense high would be like, money was rolling in.… But I was 22 when I met him. … We were drinking too much, smoking too much … So when that comes down, it goes really low.”
The four-year-marriage, which ended when a then-pregnant Kelis filed for divorce in July 2009 after Nas’ cheating became the final straw, also had its share of mental and physical abuse. Kelis admitted it “got to the point where if I wasn’t pregnant, I might have stayed with him.”
“Did he hit me?…..Mmm hmmm. Did I hit him back?…..Mmm hmmm.” Kelis says after noting she couldn’t bring their son Knight into “a frickin’ mess.” “It was because he would black out, he would drink too much. He drank way too much … he will never admit it.”
She added that upon seeing photos of Rihanna’s bruised face following her assault from then-boyfriend Chris Brown in February 2009, she reflected on her own domestic abuse.
“The only way I can describe it was like double dutch,” she says. “Do I jump in? Do I say [I’ve been abused?] Becuase I had bruises all over my body at that time. … And I wasn’t ready to walk. I just wasn’t. And so I didn’t say it. … I was appalled, I was embarrassed. … I wasn’t ready [to leave].”
As of the former couple’s current relationship, Kelis claimed Nas had only consistently provided child support for the last two years of their 8-year-old’s life. She also claimed Nas just recently found out where Knight goes to school and is not a hands-on parent.
“But yet you want all the glamorous parts,” she says of the MC who she also said talks “all this Black empowerment and you’re a fraud.”
“You want to put a chain on him because you think he’s your mini-me,” she continued. “But you don’t want to do what parents really do. … And the funny thing is … I get $8,000 a month, it doesn’t really cover everything, but I have never, ever, ever asked that man for a penny.”
Nas and Kelis have been embroiled in an on-going custody dispute. Earlier this month, the rapper accused the “Milkshake” performer of violating their custody agreement.
Meanwhile, the revelations resulted in Twitter users lashing out.
“Kelis just shared that Nas was physically abusive during their marriage 😡😡,” someone said. “F— male rappers forever for real.”
“Kelis really spared Nas’ reputation and he let her be portrayed as a ruthless, gold-digging liar out to destroy a Black man,” another tweeted. “I am so angry.”
“NAS WAS WHOOPING KELIS ASS?” someone else said. “I KNEW HE WAS A VIRGO BUT NOT A VIRGO VIRGO.”
you did what to kelis? @Nas pic.twitter.com/mksB1l4Cn4
— uncle vaun. (@_Vaun) April 26, 2018
