EXCLUSIVE: How the death of Jay Z's deadbeat dad opened his heart to let in the love of his life Beyoncé

  • At age 11, Jay Z's dad Adnes Reeves abandoned him and his family
  • The rapper lived in the projects of Brooklyn and turned to drug dealing 
  • At 33-years-old Jay Z met with Adnes and forgave him. Shortly after, in 2003, Reeves died of liver failure
  • 'His anger at Adnes had closed him off emotionally' and he 'didn't want to scare Beyoncé away with too much information,' claims new book
  • Unauthorized biography claims it was after his father's death that Jay Z began to fully pursue with an open heart a relationship with Beyoncé
  • 'I have shared some of the best moments of my life with the two of you by my side. I have also shared some of the worst,' Beyoncé wrote in scathing letter to her former Destiny's Child group members

Today they're a musical force that can't be touched but Jay Z wasn't always capable of loving Beyoncé, an explosive new unauthorized biography reveals.

It wasn't until he reconciled with his father for abandoning him at the age of 11 that he was finally able to let her in.

The rapper and former drug dealer 'opened up to the possibility of love' when he forgave Adnes Reeves soon before his death in 2003, the unauthorized biography claims.

Until then Jay Z had been a hard-nosed thug from a tough housing project who shot his own brother while he was a boy.

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Unbreakable: New book says Jay Z only opened his heart to Beyoncé after reconciling with his father. The two have been married since 2008

Unbreakable: New book says Jay Z only opened his heart to Beyoncé after reconciling with his father. The two have been married since 2008

No father figure: Jay Z's dad, Adnes Reeves, abandoned the family when he was 11-year-old. He grew up in the projects of Brooklyn and dealt drugs

No father figure: Jay Z's dad, Adnes Reeves, abandoned the family when he was 11-year-old. He grew up in the projects of Brooklyn and dealt drugs

But dealing with his anger about his father allowed him to pursue Beyoncé with an 'open heart'.

It also created an 'undeniable bond' with her because she was having her own issues with her father.

Jay Z supposedly told her to look past her frustration that dad Mathew Knowles was controlling and had been managing her since she was eight.

Jay Z said: 'I get your frustration about Mathew but look how involved your father has been in your life. I wish I'd had a father like Mathew Knowles.

'Jesus Christ! Who knows how I would have turned out.'

The insight into how Jay Z and Beyoncé got serious shows how two such opposite people were attracted to each other.

She was the daughter of a Xerox salesman and a hairdresser from a middle class suburb of Houston, Texas.

Flawless: Jay Z, carrying the couple's daughter Blue Ivy, presents Beyoncé with an award at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards

Flawless: Jay Z, carrying the couple's daughter Blue Ivy, presents Beyoncé with an award at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards

Family time: Jay Z leads Blue Ivy off yacht with mom Beyoncé close behind during family vacation. Blue Ivy, 3, is the couple's only child

Family time: Jay Z leads Blue Ivy off yacht with mom Beyoncé close behind during family vacation. Blue Ivy, 3, is the couple's only child

He grew up in the Marcy Housing Project in Brooklyn, New York, dealing drugs and narrowly surviving being shot dead by a gangster.

According to J. Randy Taraborrelli's 'Becoming Beyoncé: The Untold Story', the couple had been seeing each other for around two years when Jay Z decided to resolve things with his father.

The book claims that his anger at Adnes had 'closed him off emotionally' but he didn't discuss it with Beyoncé because he 'didn't want to scare her away with too much information'.

Taraborrelli writes: 'He was already afraid his controversial background would be a burden for her to carry, not to mention one for her parents as well. So when it came to Adnes, he held back'

It wasn't until Jay Z was 33 and was already a hip hop mogul that he decided to meet with his father and let his true feelings come out.

Adnes told him that he had turned to drugs after becoming obsessed with finding the man who killed his brother and that his life had been a downward spiral ever since.

Taraborrelli writes that this 'completely set Jay straight' and that he forgave him. Their meeting came months before Adnes died, in June 2003 from liver failure.

The book says: 'Jay says that forgiving Adnes absolutely opened him up to the possibility of love in his life.

'It was after his father's death that he began to fully pursue with an open heart a relationship with Beyonce.

'She came in at the tail end of his reconciliation with his father... she understood a lot of what was going on with him as it unfolded, forging a bond with him that was undeniable, especially as she had her own father issues'.

Those issues would lead to Beyoncé writing a devastating letter three years earlier to two of the original members of Destiny's Child.

It was dated January 5, 2000 and was sent to LaTavia Roberson and LeToya Luckett, who had fallen out with Mathew Knowles, Beyoncé's father and the band's manager, over how he was giving his daughter more of the spotlight and lead vocal parts.

Triangle of trouble: Solange Knowles, Beyoncé and Jay Z exiting the elevator moments after the memorable fight between the rapper and and her sister the night of the 2014 Met Gala

Triangle of trouble: Solange Knowles, Beyoncé and Jay Z exiting the elevator moments after the memorable fight between the rapper and and her sister the night of the 2014 Met Gala

Broken 'Destiny': Beyoncé (second from left) attacked LeToya (second from right) and LeTavia (far left) in a letter for making a business decision for the group without discussing it with her or fellow group member Kelly Rowland (far right)

Broken 'Destiny': Beyoncé (second from left) attacked LeToya (second from right) and LeTavia (far left) in a letter for making a business decision for the group without discussing it with her or fellow group member Kelly Rowland (far right)

LaTavia and LeToya later sued Beyoncé and her father and accused him of 'greed and promotion of his daughter's interests' at their expense.

Beyoncé would have been 19 at the time she wrote to them and was already displaying her ruthless ambition to get to the top.

The letter also makes clear her devotion to her father that would later crumble when she went solo.

The letter reads: 'I have shared some of the best moments of my life with the two of you by my side. I have also shared some of the worst'.

'(Think of) the white house on Parkwood (her family home) that you both spent many summers living in that we had to sell, the car we all piled into that we had to sell, the job that Mathew quit to dedicate countless hours to Destiny's Child.

'You were there when people called him crazy for dedicating his time and money to us. It's very sad when people become successful that they forget how they got where they are and who helped them... we all know that our contributions are not anywhere close to being equal, yet we all get paid equally.

'I have never asked for the best clothes or better treatment. In fact, I have settled for the worst on numerous occasions just to avoid conflict and keep the peace.

'I also never complained when you didn't sing one note on numerous songs on the (first) album. 

'I've never complained when I was working my butt off in the studio as I did on the last album (The Writing's On The Wall) when the two of you were both either sleeping or on your phones approximately eighty percent of the time. 

'I never complained when the two of you were lip singing to my vocals on some of the videos and on stage'.

What bothered Beyoncé most was that LaTavia and LeToya had sent her father a letter demanding that they stay in the band but have a different manager.

Given the control that Mathew Knowles exerted over the group, this was effectively them declaring war.

In her letter Beyoncé attacked LeTavia and LeToya for making a 'business decision for the group without discussing it with myself or Kelly (Rowland)'.

She wrote: 'Approximately every three weeks (or less!) there is drama caused by one or both of you. I don't deserve this! So don't think that this is because of Mathew.

'It's just that I can't continue to live with the same drama that I have dealt with for so many years'.

Explosive claims: Jay Z was filled with some much anger from his father leaving that he wasn't capable of truly letting Beyoncé in until the two reconciled

Explosive claims: Jay Z was filled with some much anger from his father leaving that he wasn't capable of truly letting Beyoncé in until the two reconciled

Taraborrelli writes that Beyoncé later clashed with Farrah Franklin, who was brought in as a replacement when LeTavia and LeToya quit.

But she lasted three months before she got fed up with Beyoncé hogging the limelight too.

During a phone conversation Beyoncé supposedly told Farrah: 'This is a business... think like a businesswoman. Think smart'.

It was Beyoncé speak for do what you're told and keep quiet.

Taraborrelli writes that Farrah thought about it for a bit and called back and didn't back down.

Beyoncé supposedly told her: 'Fine. I wish you the best. May God bless you. Goodbye' - and hung up.

In extracts of 'Becoming Beyoncé,' already made public, Taraborrelli claimed that she and Jay Z broke up for a year in 2005 after rumors he was in a relationship with Rihanna.

Beyoncé was supposedly shocked that he was seeing the pop star even though the allegations were false and made up by a PR person.

The row resurfaced last May when Jay Z and Beyonce's sister Solange got into a fight in an elevator at the Standard Hotel in New York.

It was thought that the fight was because Solange did not like how close Jay Z was to Rihanna.

But Taraborrelli says that the argument occurred after Beyoncé told Jay Z he could not go to Rihanna's party after the Met Gala, which they all attended.

Taraborrelli claims Beyoncé has only had two boyfriends in her life: high school sweetheart Lyndell Locke and Jay Z.

Locke says that Beyoncé was so devoted to Jay Z in the early stages of their relationship she would 'do anything' for him.

This included uninvinting Locke to Solange's baby shower, at which point he cut ties with her.

Locke says: 'I learned a lot about what it meant to have a good woman.

'She's still the first girl I ever kissed at that Brian McKnight concert so long ago, when we were little kids. That stays with you. ...I guess it's true what they say: You don't forget your first love.'

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