Jay-Z's mom Gloria Carter has found love again once more at 72, and she celebrated with all of her loved ones: her son, daughter-in-law Beyoncé, granddaughter Blue Ivy, and others.
Over the weekend, the Carter-Knowles family got together in New York City to celebrate the wedding between the Carter matriarch and her new wife Roxanne Wiltshire, alongside fellow celebrity guests Robin Roberts, Destiny's Child alum Kelly Rowland, Tyler Perry, and Beyoncé's mom Tina Knowles-Lawson.
For the special event, Gloria was seen in pictures shared by TMZ wearing a bright white brocade blazer paired with white pants and black, snake print loafers, while Roxanne looked just as fabulous in a form-fitting gold and white sequined gown. Learn more about Gloria and her personal life below.
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Who was Gloria Carter previously married to?
Gloria raised Jay-Z (born Shawn Carter) along with his siblings Michelle, Andrea, and Eric by herself, after the rapper's father, Adnis Reeves, left the family when Jay-Z was 11.
"She juggled. Sometimes we'd pay the light bill, sometimes we paid the phone, sometimes the gas went off. We weren't starving – we were eating, we were O.K. But it was things like you didn't want to be embarrassed when you went to school; you didn't want to have dirty sneakers or wear the same clothes over again," the father-of-three recalled to Vanity Fair in 2013.
© GettyWhen did Gloria Carter come out?
Jay-Z first opened up about his mother's sexuality in 2017 on the song 'Smile,' which is part of his thirteenth studio album, 4:44.
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In the song, he sings: "Mama had four kids, but she's a lesbian. Had to pretend so long that she's a thespian. Had to hide in the closet, so she medicate. Society shame and the pain was too much to take."
© GettyWhat has Jay-Z said about his mom's sexuality and her relationship with Roxanne Wiltshire?
In the track 'Smile,' he further sings: "Cried tears of joy when you fell in love. Don't matter to me if it's a him or her. I just wanna see you smile through all the hate. Marie Antoinette, baby, let 'em eat cake."
One year later, he further opened up about it during his episode of David Letterman's Netflix series My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, when he told the veteran television host: "Imagine having to live your life as someone else and you think you're protecting your kids."
He added: "For her to sit in front of me and tell me 'I think I love someone,' I really cried... I cried because I was so happy for her that she was free."
© InstagramWhat has Gloria Carter said about her sexuality and her relationship with son Jay-Z?
Gloria has also opened up about the moment she came out to her family, on the D'Ussé Friday podcast in 2017. "I was sitting there and I was telling him one day. I just finally started telling him who I was. 'Besides your mother, this is the person that I am, you know?' This is the life that I lived," she said at the time.
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Gloria added: "So my son started actually, like, tearing because he was like, 'That had to be a horrible life, Ma.' I was like, 'My life was never horrible. It was just different.' So that made him want to do a song about it."
© GettyWhat does Gloria Carter do professionally?
Since 2003, Gloria has led the Shawn Carter Foundation, which she founded with her son.
The charity has a focus on the education system and offering scholarships, and in their website, they state: "Since its inception, The Foundation has provided college scholarships for young people who have talent and drive but due to mitigating circumstances their grade point averages fall below the minimum to qualify for support at other foundations and institutions."
