Eric Benét Smugly Reacts to Being Name-Checked in Jay Z’s New Album
Jay Z’s new album, 4:44, dropped last night on Tidal and the lyrics immediately caused a stir. While he may have dissed Kanye West and Future, he definitely took a jab at singer Eric Benét in the song “Kill Jay Z,” in which he seems to be singing about (possibly) cheating on Beyoncé (an accusation she launched in her own Lemonade) and regretting it.
“You almost went Eric Benét/Let the baddest girl in the world get away,” Jay rapped in the opening track of 4:44. The inference, of course, being how could Jay even think of cheating on Queen Bey — which is what people though of Benét cheating on Halle Berry over a decade earlier.
You remember — the R&B crooner was the second of Berry’s three husbands. Soon after her ground-breaking (but not ground-breaking enough) 2002 Oscar win, tabloids reported that her husband was cheating, and Benét spent 35 days in rehab for sex addiction. They divorced soon after.
While Benét was treated for being a sex addict (something many other stars, like Scott Disick, went on to label themselves as), after their divorce he said he only agreed to be treated because Halle’s mom “presented” the idea to him “in order for the marriage to have a shot… I wanted to save my marriage and do anything necessary to do that. I went and heard other people’s stories and realized this is really not my struggle.”
Eric went on to remarry Manuela Testolini (Hollywood is so incestuous), Prince’s second wife. They have two children together, Amoura and Lucia Bella, as well as Eric’s grown daughter from a previous relationship, India.
Benét responded to Jay’s name-check early Friday morning on Twitter, writing, “Hey yo #Jayz! Just so ya know, I got the baddest girl in the world as my wife…. like right now!”
Hey yo #Jayz! Just so ya know, I got the baddest girl in the world as my wife….like right now! ✌
— Eric Benét (@ebenet) June 30, 2017
The last time one of Benét’s tweets made headlines was in 2015 after Halle Berry announced her divorce from third husband Olivier Martinez. Halle’s first husband, baseballer David Justice, took a swipe at the actress’s relationship track record, writing, “Me, Eric, Gabriel [Aubry], and Olivier were all her ‘Knight in Shining Armor’, until it ends.. Then we all become the worst guys in history.” Benét replied to Justice’s tweet a thumbs-up.
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