Jay-Z's mum Gloria Carter reveals she is a LESBIAN on smile

One of the most touching moments on JAY-Z’s 4:44 comes during the closing monologue of “Smile” delivered by Jay’s mother Gloria Carter 63. During her short speech, Gloria discusses the challenges she has faced throughout her life as a lesbian living in the shadows. In a new interview with the D'EUSSE Friday podcast, she opened up about how and why she decided to publicly come out after years of feeling uncertain about sharing her sexuality.

I just finally started telling [Jay] who I was. Besides your mother, this is the person that I am. This is the life that I live. So my son started actually tearing. ‘Cause he’s 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.

Although she was hesitant about sharing this part of her life with the world, Jay eventually convinced her to let him put it on the album in the form of “Smile”:

I was never ashamed of me. In my family, it was something that was never discussed… I’m tired of all the mystery. I’m gonna give it to ‘em. I don’t have to worry about nobody wondering if I’m in the life or not, I’m gonna tell them. So now that I told you, now what do you have to talk about? So now maybe you can focus on the phenomenal things I do, so focus on that. Because that part of your life is a small part of your life… Now it’s time for me to live my life and be happy, be free.

On “Smile,” Gloria Carter reflects on her struggles feeling like she was “living in the shadow”:

Living in the shadow
Can you imagine what kind of life it is to live?
In the shadows people see you as happy and free
Because that’s what you want them to see
Living two lives, happy, but not free
You live in the shadows for fear of someone hurting your family or the person you love
The world is changing and they say it’s time to be free
But you live with the fear of just being me
Living in the shadow feels like the safe place to be
No harm for them, no harm for me
But life is short, and it’s time to be free
Love who you love, because life isn’t guaranteed
Smile

The 47 year-old multi-platinum pop star Jay also directly addresses his mother’s sexuality, rapping:

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
Cried tears of joy when you fell in love
Don’t matter to me if it’s a him or her

“Smile” hit the Billboard Hot 100 chart for a single week in late July, peaking at No. 56. The song is co-produced by Jay and No I.D., and its intro samples “Love’s in Need of Love Today” by Stevie Wonder. It’s the second time that Gloria has appeared on one of Jay’s songs, following “December 4th” from The Black Album.