Jay-Z has revealed he cried with relief when his mother came out to him as gay.
Speaking to David Letterman on his new Netflix show, the rapper told him that he was "so happy for her that she was free".
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Jay explained that he had known for a long time but only spoke to his mother about it eight months ago, when he was recording 4:44.
The next day, he wrote a track called Smile, which included lyrics like "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."
Speaking to Letterman, the rapper said "For her to sit in front of me and tell me, 'I think I love someone'. I mean, I really cried."
My Next Guest Needs No Introduction starts streaming on Netflix on April 6th.