Beyonce + Jay-Z: A Timeline Their 23-Year Love Story

For nearly 25 years, Beyoncé and Jay-Z have been the supreme "it couple" of popular culture— much less popular music.

The couple —real names Beyonce Knowles and Shawn Carter— began dating around 2001. At the time, Beyonce was still in the group Destiny's Child, and Jay-Z had risen from Big Daddy Kane's hype man to one of the top names in the rap game courtesy of 1998's "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem" and other all-time bangers.

In 2002, they began collaborating on music together. Marriage followed in 2008, as did the births of their three children: 12-year-old Blue Ivy and 6-year-old twins Rumi and Sir.

Nowadays, the couple are undisputedly among elder statespeople of mainstream music. Beyonce's every move professionally is all but guaranteed to result in critical praise and massive box-office success, while Jay-Z entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021 as part of the same class as his former rival LL Cool J.

Read on for a timeline of the couple's relationship. It's still going strong in 2024, as evidenced by Jay-Z's fiery speech at the Grammys in which he questioned why his spouse had yet to win Album of the Year despite being the most decorated artist in the awards show's history.

2000: Jay-Z Meet Beyonce

The future couple would've met circa 2000. More specifically, per People, Beyonce told Seventeen that she was 18 when she met Jay-Z, so it would've fallen in between 1999 and 2000.

At the time, Beyonce would've been around 18 years old. As mentioned above, Jay-Z was already a megastar. Destiny's Child were huge, as well, dating back to the 1998 Wyclef Jean collaboration "No, No, No." The group's "Independent Women Part I" became a massive hit that same year.

2001: They Began Dating

After getting to know each other, the couple began dating.

"We were friends first for a year and a half before we went on any dates," Beyonce told Oprah Winfrey. "We were on the phone for a year and a half, and that foundation is so important for a relationship. Just to have someone who you just like is so important, and someone [who] is honest."

By year's end, they appeared together on the cover of Vanity Fair's music issue.

"We were just beginning to try to date each other," Jay-Z told the publication in 2013. "Well, you know, you've got to try first. You got to dazzle . . . wine and dine."

2002- '03: Musical Collaborators

The couple's first major collaboration came by way of the 2002 Jay-Z track "03 Bonnie & Clyde," for which they filmed a music video in Mexico. Much bigger things were around the corner. The following year, they worked together on a defining song for both: "Crazy in Love," which accounts for two of Beyonce's 32 record-shattering Grammy wins.

Numerous collaborations followed in the coming years, namely 2013's "Drunk in Love." In 2014, they co-headlined the On the Run Tour. A second On the Run tour followed in 2018: the same year they released the collaborative album Everything is Love.

2004: Their Red Carpet Debut

It took surprisingly long for the two to walk the red carpet together. Their debut came on Aug. 29, 2004 the MTV VMAs (Video Music Awards). They arrived together and went home with one trophy apiece.

As for other public appearances, there's too many to list here. They range from awards shows and galas to both of Barack Obama's inaugurations.

2008: The Wedding of the Century

Calling what took place on April 4, 2008 the wedding of the century isn't hyperbole— certainly if you're a fan of hip-hop and R&B.

The seven-year wait was intentional on Beyonce's part.

"I was 18 when we first met, 19 when we first started dating," Beyonce told Seventeen (as quoted by Washington's NBC affiliate). "There was no rush — no one expected me to run off and get married. I really don't believe that you will love the same thing when you're 20 as you do at 30. So that was my rule: before the age of 25, I would never get married. I feel like you have to get to know yourself, know what you want, spend some time by yourself, and be proud of who you are before you can share that with someone else."

In addition, Beyonce had found that she connected with Jay-Z less as a rap mogul and more as an everyday person.

"I don't care if you're picture-perfect on every magazine cover, and you're the most handsome, successful, coolest guy - you still get sad, and you still get your feelings hurt, and you still get confused and vulnerable and nervous and scared," the "If I Were A Boy" she told Seventeen. "You have to find a person you can make it through the tough times with. So you have to make sure it's real, and you have to make sure you are honest, that you can be yourself, and find somebody who loves you - not the fantasy of you, but who, you really are."

Jay-Z confirmed the marriage bluntly in Sept. 2008 interview with Vibe.

"That's ridiculous for me to confirm,"  he said (as quoted by People). "I don't have ... I'm going to say, I think that was a ridiculous question. I just think it's really a part of your life that you got to keep to yourself ... You have to, or you'll go insane in this type of business. You have to have something that's sacred to you and the people around you ... I shared so much of my life, my childhood, and my family, the death of my nephew with the world. I should have something to hold on to. You need something for your sanity to say, 'Okay, I could chill out, and this is it.'"

In 2015, Jay-Z posted footage from the wedding for the first time to his since-deleted Instagram account. We got footage for keeps in 2016 via Beyonce's "All Night" music video.

2012: The Couple Welcomes Their First Child

Blue Ivy was born on Jan. 7, 2012. Beyonce had revealed her pregnancy the prior August at the MTV VMAs.

In the 2013 HBO documentary "Life Is But a Dream," Beyonce revealed that she'd been pregnant before but had a miscarriage.

"About two years ago, I was pregnant for the first time," she said. "And I heard the heartbeat, which was the most beautiful music I ever heard in my life ... Being pregnant was very much like falling in love. You are so open. You are so overjoyed. There's no words that can express having a baby growing inside of you, so of course you want to scream it out and tell everyone. [Early into the pregnancy], I flew back to New York to get my check up — and no heartbeat. Literally the week before I went to the doctor, everything was fine, but there was no heartbeat."

2017: The Family Grows to Five

Beyonce gave birth in mid-June of 2017 to twins: son Sir and daughter Rumi. Beyonce confirmed the new additions a month later via social media.

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