Alicia Keys opens up about her nearly 14-year marriage to Swizz Beatz: ‘We laugh a lot’

Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz have been married since 2010.

According to Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz, the secret to a strong marriage is “good communication.” 

“I spent a lot of relationships not really saying how I actually felt, and they fell apart,” Keys told People magazine in a recent interview. 

She continued, “If you can’t speak your truth, then you can’t be yourself. That’s a key! I don’t worry about speaking to him, even about the hard things, and I think he feels the same. I know that I can tell him what I really feel.”

Keys, 43, who has been married to Swizz Beatz, born Kasseem Dean, 45, since 2010, is opening up about what makes their marriage so strong as People’s latest digital cover star. 

The “Girl on Fire” singer said that throughout the nearly 14 years they have been married, Dean has remained a supportive partner. The world got a taste of his support following Keys’ Super Bowl halftime performance, as trolls online were criticizing her for a botched first note and potentially being too cozy with headliner Usher onstage. 

“Y’all talking about the wrong damn thing,” Dean wrote in an Instagram post following his wife’s Super Bowl cameo. 

He continued, “Y’all don’t see that amazing dress covering the entire stadium. Tonight’s performance was nothing but amazing with [two] amazing Giants! Congrats [Usher] and my love [Alicia Keys] that song is a classic. We don’t do negative vibes on this side we make history.” 

While speaking to People, Keys had kind words of her own for her longtime partner. 

She said, “My husband — every second, it’s noise. But that’s him, and I love it. He is the best DJ in the universe, and we walk down the street, and it’s a party. It’s amazing.”

Keys told the publication that while things get serious from time to time — especially when it comes to communication involving their children, they still manage to enjoy themselves. 

“We have a lot of fun. We laugh a lot. He’s really silly, I’m really silly,” she said. 

The singer and music producer share sons Egypt, 13, and Genesis, 9. Dean is also the father of Kasseem Jr., Prince Nasir and Nicole from previous relationships. Keys told People how it feels to watch all of their children grow up. 

“It’s really trippy to see them getting so big,” she said. 

She added that with them growing up, she’s had to have a few amusing yet uncomfortable conversations, including kicking them out of her and Dean’s bedroom at night. 

“I said, ‘Listen, when Mommy and Daddy are happy, whole family happy. Mommy and Daddy not happy, whole family not happy,'” she said. 

Keys also shared more details about the couple’s impressive Black art collection, “The Dean Collection,” and current exhibition, “Giants,” which opened at the Brooklyn Museum on Feb. 10 and runs through July 7. Their collection includes works from Jean-Michel Basquiat, Gordon Parks, Kehinde Wiley and many more.

She said, “This collection has been something that’s been so personal and such a long time of really loving and creating deep relationships with the artists in our collection. To be able to show it in one place at the Brooklyn Museum in the Great Hall, I can’t even tell you … We are going to be bawling, I can’t even believe it.”

The singer also tells the publication about her upcoming Broadway musical, “Hell’s Kitchen,” expected to open in early spring. She explained how she’s been crafting the story for 13 years and how full circle the moment is. She also reflected on how far she’s come in the industry and in life as a whole.

When she first started out at the age of 18, Keys said, “Just entering into the music business, exploring, being on television and performing under hot lights and sweating and just [being] in a whole new universe—it was like an alien universe.” 

She continued, “I didn’t feel like myself. I felt like I had to conform to everybody’s expectation of what they thought I was or should be. And it really took quite a lot of discipline and a lot of time before I got to the place where I realized that I didn’t have to be this person, that I didn’t have to fulfill other people’s dreams of me. I could actually just be who I am.”

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