Sean "Diddy" Combs' former head of security, Gene Deal, has taken Jay-Z to task over the fact that he was in his 30s when he started dating a teenage Beyoncé.
His comments came while appearing on The Art of Dialogue podcast, the video for which was released on YouTube on Jan. 5, 2025.
Deal said, "I know people in the industry, been around for a long time, was there when he first started dating Beyoncé at 17, 18; he was 30-something."
He also pointed out that Beyoncé was born in 1981, while Jay-Z was born in either 1967 or 1969.
Deal recalled a moment in the late '90s when Beyoncé was in a club, at an age when she wasn't allowed to be there.
"She wasn't even supposed to be in a club," he said, noting that Jay-Z, who was nearly 30 at the time, was seeing her. "Isn't she still somewhat a child? To me, she is," he said.
He then sarcastically commented that maybe dating her young was Jay-Z's way of protecting a "child."
Their chat also addressed Beyoncé's age, as Gabrielle Union insists that she went to junior high with Beyoncé.
Beyoncé was said to be dating a man who was six to seven years her senior, but Union has always been younger than Beyoncé.
People Magazine reported the two first met between September 1999 and August 2000, when 30-year-old Jay-Z was a successful rapper and record executive, and a then-18-year-old Beyoncé was launching her professional music career as part of Destiny's Child.
Beyoncé confirmed in a 2013 interview with Oprah Winfrey that she and Jay-Z were friends for a year and a half before they started dating.
"We were on the phone for a year and a half, and that foundation is so important for a relationship," she said.
Jay-Z and Beyoncé made it official in April 2008. They have overcome many obstacles, such as Jay-Z being accused of cheating on Beyoncé and the media questioning their marriage.
Still, they are considered one of the power couples in the music industry.
All eyes were on the couple last December amid a lawsuit claiming Jay-Z drugged and raped a 13-year-old girl at the 2000 MTV VMAs afterparty.
Jay-Z has vehemently rejected the allegations, and he is worried about the welfare of his family in the wake of the controversy.
Beyoncé has yet to comment on the lawsuit or its allegations against her husband.
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