Is the marriage between JayZ and Beyoncé in need of help from a crisis public relations firm, or is the mega-couple using rumors of relationship trouble as a PR stunt to fuel ticket sales for their massive world tour?
Only time will tell.
Whispers of cracks in the pair’s relationship first surfaced in May when TMZ posted footage of Beyoncé’s sister, Solange Knowles, attacking JayZ in an elevator at The Standard hotel in Manhattan.
Concerns intensified after the Cincinnati stop of the couple’s “On The Run” tour in June when Beyoncé changed the lyrics of her song “Resentment” to seemingly make reference to JayZ cheating on her.
“Been ridin’ with you for 12 years. Why did I deserve to be treated this way by you?” she sang. The original lyrics are: “Been ridin’ with you for six years. Why did I deserve to be treated this way by you?”
JayZ and Beyoncé have been together for 12 years. They began dating in 2002 and married in 2008. They are parents to one child, two-year-old Blue Ivy.
The New York Post claims unnamed sources have told them JayZ and Beyoncé are seeing marriage counselors in an attempt to save their relationship, but they are no longer wearing their wedding rings and may part ways following the end of their tour.
However, experts agree that, even if JayZ and Beyoncé do call it quits, the money will keep rolling in.
“I don’t think this impacts their businesses in a major way,” public relations executive Ronn Torossian said in an interview with Entertainment Tonight. “They’re not kids. This is not, you know, Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez duking it out on Twitter and late night battles. Both JayZ and Beyoncé’s machines will continue to go on whether they’re married or they’re divorced.”
Heartbreak on the horizon or not, JayZ and Beyoncé are guaranteed to stick it out until the end of their world tour. Promoters have already fronted most of the money to the entertainers, and HBO is planning to film the last two concerts of the “On The Run” tour when it hits Paris, which doesn’t happen until September.
The tour is reportedly pulling in around $5 million per performance and is on pace to rake in $100 million for the year.
“JayZ and Beyoncé’s marriage is just as much a merger as it is a marriage,” Forbes senior editor Zach O’Malley Greenburg told ET.
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