Mashonda Tifrere made a pretty public scene when she first found out about Alicia Keys and her ex Swizz Beatz. She basically blamed Alicia for the end of her marriage, and it honestly looked like she’d never be able to forgive her.
But over time, the three of them have managed to make a happy, blended family together. And you won’t believe the kind of relationship Mashonda and Alicia have these days. Here’s what she said about Alicia in more recent years.
What Happened Between Swizz, Mashonda and Alicia?
You probably remember all the scandalous news about how Alicia supposedly stole Swizz Beatz from Mashonda back in the late 2000s.
The pair had been married for four years and had welcomed a son named Kasseem Jr. when they announced their split in 2008. In an interview with MTV, Swizz claimed that they’d already been separated for 10 months before the news first went public.
It was around that time that he supposedly began dating Alicia Keys, who he’d known since they were just teenagers. At first it was mostly the press that was speculating that there’d been an affair, but then in 2009, Mashonda finally spoke up about how she was feeling, and she dropped a total bombshell.
Mashonda Spoke Out Against Alicia
VIBE published an open letter that she’d written to Alicia. In it she accused her of contributing to the ending of her marriage. I mean, it really looked like Mashonda had nothing but hatred and anger towards her ex’s new partner.
In 2010, the same year the divorce was finalized, Swizz and Alicia got married. And a few months later Alicia gave birth to their first son, Egypt. Their second son, Genesis, was born four years later.
And Mashonda made it no secret that she really struggled with the huge change in her personal life. But cut to 2018, and not only were Alicia, Swizz and his ex wife co-parenting successfully, Mashonda had even written a book about it.
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She called it Blend: The Secret to Co-Parenting and Creating a Balanced Family. It was amazing because the co-parents in her life didn’t just approve of the book, but Swizz even wrote a chapter in it, and Alicia wrote the foreword for it.
The three of them sat down in an interview with PEOPLE to talk about the book, and revealed that they’d become good friends and were proud of everything they’d accomplished for the sake of their blended family.
The Three Ended Up Co-Parenting Together
And how they actually got to that point is seriously impressive — because let’s face it, not a lot of exes end up getting along with each other OR their ex’s new partner.
Mashonda confessed that it took two years into their blending to make it happen, but when they did, it was like turning the light on.
They apparently realized they could minimize the impact on their children by reducing the conflict they had with one another.
Mashonda claimed that there were never any big blowouts. There were times when they didn’t fully agree, but they were all comfortable just letting it go.
Alicia agreed with her ex’s baby mama, and added that the three of them had worked and prayed together and allowed the space for everyone to be heard. She said it was one of the things she was most proud of.
While promoting her book, Mashonda, Swizz and Alicia were interviewed by ABC News about their experience of coming together as a family.
Now Mashonda and Alicia Are Close
And they honestly had some really touching things to say about each other. Alicia started the interview by stating that they loved each other. They’d hang out with each other, they’d go to dinner together and they’d celebrate the holidays together too.
She described their family as one big, beautiful family, and she said that what they had together was a beautiful partnership. Mashonda chimed in to admit that they hadn’t gotten there without some challenges on the way though. Swizz also confessed that things had started off with a little bit of miscommunication and negativity.
Which was something that ended up negatively affecting his and Mashonda’s son Kasseem Jr. Apparently, he couldn’t understand why he wasn’t allowed to see his dad and mom together at the same time, or why his dad wasn’t allowed to come over and see his bedroom.
Mashonda then recognized that what her son was going through, was something she’d been through herself in her own childhood.
She shared that she lived through a messy divorce with her parents, and as a child, she remembered the negative energy and the feeling of not having security in her own home, which was something she didn’t want for her son. The trio admitted that it took a lot of work to get to the point that they’d gotten to.
So they could see how some people would struggle to understand how they could suddenly all be good friends. But Mashonda explained that there was a whole middle part that people didn’t see, and that was where they all put the work in on themselves individually and healed.
It Took Years of Healing to Blend Families
They healed their children, they gave them an opportunity to see them growing, and that was the real blend. She added that the healing was the first step to blending.
It wasn’t until Kasseem Jr.’s sixth birthday that Alicia and Mashonda really hung out properly and bonded for the first time. But apparently Kaseem Jr. wouldn’t call Alicia his stepmom. The women agreed that it just wasn’t the right word.
Alicia came up with the word Umi instead, so she became Kasseem Jr. ‘s Umi. Mashonda and Swizz admitted that they’d even started to call her that too.
In 2018, Alicia released a song titled Blended Family featuring A$AP Rocky which was all about their experiences.
The music video showed their life together, and they all starred in it- Kasseem Jr., his brothers, Alicia, Mashonda and Swizz.I think it’s really helpful to hear the backstory of how they got to the unified point that they seem to be at now.
Because looking back at how things started off between the three of them, it’s hard to imagine that they’d ever be this close, which is something that some people still struggle to understand these days.
According to Madame Noire, when Swizz shared a photo on Instagram of Alicia and Mashonda together at a concert Alicia had in 2022, the comments section kind of blew up with some opinionated messages.
One person wrote-“I’mma NEVER BE THIS MATURE… and I don’t want to be… I wish y’all well… But I don’t have to be there”
Another online user shared a similar perspective and said-“She’s better than me… all I’mma say!”
Mashonda Opened Up About Swizz Beats’ Affair with Alicia
Like Mashonda said in her interview with ABC News, a lot of people didn’t see the middle part, and I guess they just haven’t forgotten how hurt she seemed to be at the beginning of it all.
In a 2010 interview with VIBE, she really opened up about the pain she went through when she first found out about Alicia.
She claimed that her ex-husband admitted to having an affair on Mothers Day in 2008, six months after she’d already found out about it.
She said that she didn’t sleep for a whole year, she had to take pills to sleep because she’d wake up in the middle of the night crying.
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Apparently, she couldn’t even look at her son some days because she didn’t have the strength and she never wanted him to feel her bad energy.
Around the time of the interview, Alicia and Swizz were just going public, but Moshanda claimed that their relationship had already been going on for a very long time. At that point, she and Alicia hadn’t ever spoken about the situation.
What Did Swizz Have to Say?
She told the outlet that she wished they could have done things differently. She said she was begging for her to just talk to her, woman to woman. Swizz Beatz reflected on how far things had come since those days during an episode of TV One’s Uncensored.
Madame Noire reported that in his interview, he said that everybody wanted to throw a party when they thought his ex and Alicia wanted to harm each other and that people wanted to be negative.
He explained that they had kids involved though, so they had to take time out and then go back to the word “communicate.”
He added that everybody had their right to react. Everybody had the right to their emotions and everybody had the right to figure out how to move forward as adults and as parents.And it sounds like they were all able to do that in the end.
So, let’s hope that they can keep co-parenting in harmony and that they’ll always remain a blended family.
