Kelis finally opens up about her violent relationship with ex Nas
It has been almost a decade since Nas and Kelis’s marriage came to an end, but the former pop-culture couple are back in the news sparring over support arrangements for their 8-year-old son, Knight.
Kelis has not revealed much of her side of the story behind their split, but she has come forth this week with some details that put her ex-husband in a decidedly ugly light.
In an hour-plus exclusive interview with Hollywood Unlocked, the “Milkshake” singer shared disturbing elements of what led her to leave the marriage while she was expecting their son.
“We had really intense highs and really intense lows. It was never normal,” she said about the relationship.
She gave an indication of how low the lows were: “It was really dark. A lot of drinking. A lot of mental and physical abuse.”
“Did he hit me? … Mmm, hmm,” she alleged. “Did I hit him back? … Mmm, hmm.”
“He would black out. He would drink too much,” she continued. “He drank way too much. He will never admit it.”
A rep for Nas has yet to respond to Yahoo Entertainment’s request for comment.
Kelis said she put up with the roller-coaster relationship until 2009, when she observed the infamous photos of Rihanna following her domestic dispute with Chris Brown.
“I also had bruises all over my body,” Kelis said. “But I didn’t say anything because I’m private. But seeing [Rihanna the] way she looked, and then looking at myself … I felt embarrassed.”
Ultimately, the singer decided she couldn’t put up with this behavior as a mom-to-be. “If I wasn’t pregnant, I might have stayed with him,” she admitted, explaining that she loved him and took their marital bonds seriously.
However, “I was pregnant, and it was a mess, and I felt like I wasn’t going to bring a child into this.”
Kelis, who is now remarried and shares a second son with real estate broker Mike Mora, is reportedly seeking more money in child support from Nas — who in turn alleges she is violating their custody arrangements, which was another parenting challenge they had to work on.
To that point, Kelis had sharp words regarding Nas’s co-parenting during the interview, saying that he is present for Knight only when it’s “fun” or there’s “a good photo op.”
“You can’t show up when you feel like it,” she asserted. “You can’t not show up for months and then want to change the whole [visitation] schedule.”
Kelis, who now has a career as a chef, says she has remained silent so long about the alleged abuse in an attempt to protect her own privacy and her new family.
A rep for Kelis tells Yahoo, “There is no further comment from Kelis at this time.”
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