I generally don’t like writing about extremely gossipy stuff on this site, but this is too juicy to pass up. If you’ll remember, a couple months back, I posted a rumor that Alicia Keys was responsible for breaking up the marriage of hip-hop producer Swizz Beatz and his R&B singer wife Mashonda. In the time since then, Alicia and Swizz have come out as a couple both personally and professionally (witness their production credit on Whitney Houston’s “Million Dollar Bill” single).
Anyway, it seems like a relatively innocuous comment Alicia made on her Twitter page set Mashonda off, leading to an open letter to Keys that’s made the rounds of the blogosphere.
Now, ordinarily this would be no big deal. Marriages break up all the time. However, Alicia Keys has built up a reputation as one of the music industry’s “good girls”, supporting female empowerment and presenting herself in a way that would certainly not lend itself to this kind of situation.
I gotta say, it’s hard not to feel for Mashonda here. After all, she was (and still is) married to Swizz and they have a kid. That said, it takes two to tango and Swizz is the one who had the commitment. He certainly shouldn’t be held beyond reproach here. Either way, this situation looks like it might become a pretty major blemish on the career of someone who’s enjoyed a pretty scandal-free ride for the better part of the past decade.
Here’s a link to rapup.com’s coverage of the mess.
