Music

Aliciia Keys, Mashonda, and Swizz Beats have an amazing blended family. Mashonda initially accused Keys of ruining her and Beats' marriage but mended things for the sake of their children.

Published on September 27, 2021

When Alicia Keys and Swizz Beats debuted their love to the world, not everyone was happy. One of the people who was not a fan of their relationship was Beats’ ex-wife, Mashonda. Mashonda claimed that Keys and the music producer’s extramarital affair was the cause of their split. But they’ve all since reconciled and in a new interview, Beats explains how they were able to do so.

Mashonda accused Alicia Keys of ruining her family

According to Mashonda, Beats’ relationship with her and Keys overlapped. In 2009, Mashonda published an open letter to Keys, calling her out for “contributed to the ending of my marriage” and that Keys “assisted in destroying a family.“ The letter was published by VIBE Magazine.

Related: Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz Have a Fun Way Of Growing Their Relationship

Mashonda’s open letter came after Keys Tweeted about being in love. “If you are reading this Alicia, let me start by saying, you know what you did,” Mashonda wrote via Twitter. “You know the role you played and you know how you contributed to the ending of my marriage. You know that I asked you to step back and let me handle my family issues. Issues that you helped to create…As a woman, I expected so much more from you. I never had intentions on reaching out to you this way but after reading your twits tonight, and the constant disregard, you left me no choice.”

Keys and Beats did not respond publicly to Mashonda. Mashonda also claimed that she was blindsided by Swizz’s divorce filing and his relationship with Keys.

The three are now friends and even co-wrote a book together

Despite getting off to a bumpy start, the three former frenemies are now successfully co-parenting their blended family. Mashonda and Beats have one son. Keys and Beats have two sons together. 

Related: Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys Had 2 First Dates

Mashonda says it became important for her to get to a level of cordiality with Beats for the sake of her young son. She told People Magazine in 2018: “It took two years into our blending to make it happen, but when we did it was like turning the light on. We realized we could minimize the impact on our children by reducing the conflict we had with one another. There were never any big blowouts. There were times when we didn’t fully agree, but we were all comfortable just letting it go.”

Now, Mashonda says her and Keys’ relationship is a “sisterhood.” Their book Blend: The Secret to Co-Parenting and Creating a Balanced Family, details how Mashonda healed from the divorce and made peace with Keys and Beats.