Kelis and Nas, photos by Heather Kaplan and Killian Young

Kelis has revealed in an interview with Hollywood Unlocked that she experienced “a lot of mental and physical abuse” during her marriage with rapper Nas, which lasted from 2005 until 2009.

The singer-turned-chef divorced Nas while pregnant with their son, Knight, citing “irreconcilable differences.” In the interview, however, she explained that it was seeing the infamous photos of Rihanna’s face following her domestic dispute with Chris Brown that led her to first consider ending the relationship.



“When the Rihanna and Chris Brown pictures came out, I thought about coming out because I also had bruises all over my body, like that day,” she admitted. “But I didn’t say anything because I’m private. But seeing her the way she looked and then looking at myself… I felt embarrassed.” It was ultimately her pregnancy that prompted her to leave, with Kelis saying she didn’t want “to bring a child into this.”

Kelis characterized the marriage as “really dark,” adding that there was “a lot of drinking” going on and that the pair were both prone to hitting each other. “Did he hit me? Mhm. Did I hit him back? Mhm,” she said. “It was because he would black out. He would drink too much, he drank way too much, he will never admit it.”

Listen to the interview in full below. The discussion regarding Kelis’ relationship to Nas begins roughly 18 minutes in.

We’ve reached out to Nas’ representatives for comment.

Earlier this week, Kanye West announced that he was producing a new album from Nas, due for release on June 15th.