Beyoncé opens up about slave owner ancestry

MANILA, Philippines – Beyoncé recently opened up about her complicated ancestry, revealing that she was descended from “a slave owner who fell in love with and married a slave.”

“I come from a lineage of broken male-female relationships, abuse of power, and mistrust. Only when I saw that clearly was I able to resolve those conflicts in my own relationship,” Beyoncé said in a story in Vogue’s September 2018 issue in which she appears on the cover.

“Connecting to the past and knowing our history makes us both bruised and beautiful.”

It’s here! @beyonce stars on the cover of our September issue. Tap the link in our bio to read the full story. Photographed by @tylersphotos, fashion editor @tonnegood, Vogue, September 2018.

A post shared by Vogue (@voguemagazine) on Aug 6, 2018 at 6:00am PDT

The revelation, she said, was something she had to “process over time.”

“I questioned what it meant and tried to put it into perspective,” she said.

The music icon believes that her ancestry is the reason she had twins, Rumi and Sir, who were born in June 2017.

“I now believe it’s why God blessed me with my twins. Male and female energy was able to coexist and grow in my blood for the first time. I pray that I am able to break the generational curses in my family and that my children will have less complicated lives,” she said.

In the same interview, Beyoncé also spoke about body image and having to go through an emergency C-section for the birth of her twins.

@Beyonce, in her own words, gets real and raw about body acceptance, opening doors for the next generation of artists, her own family ancestry, and more in our September issue cover story. Tap the link in our bio to read the full piece. Photographed by @tylersphotos, fashion editor @tonnegood, Vogue, September 2018.

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She revealed that she weighed 218 lbs when she gave birth to her twins, was swollen from toxemia, and had been on bed rest.

“My health and my babies’ health were in danger, so I had an emergency C-section. We spent many weeks in the NICU,” she said.

“After the C-section, my core felt different. It had been major surgery. Some of your organs are shifted temporarily, and in rare cases, removed temporarily during delivery. I am not sure everyone understands that. I needed time to heal, to recover,” she said, sharing that she embraced her curvier physique and accepted her body as it was.

“After 6 months, I started preparing for Coachella. I became vegan temporarily, gave up coffee, alcohol, and all fruit drinks. But I was patient with myself and enjoyed my fuller curves. My kids and husband did, too,” she said.

Beyoncé also spoke about helping other African American talents showcase their work.

For Vogue’s September 2018 issue, Beyoncé was shot by 23 year-old photographer Tyler Mitchell, the first African American photographer to shoot a Vogue cover in the magazine’s 125-year history.

“I look at the woman I was in my 20s and I see a young lady growing into confidence but intent on pleasing everyone around her,” says @Beyonce in our September issue cover story. “I now feel so much more beautiful, so much sexier, so much more interesting. And so much more powerful.” Inspired by @Beyonce’s words, 11 women share the advice they would give their 20-something selves; tap the link in our bio to read. Photographed by @tylersphotos, fashion editor @tonnegood, Vogue, September 2018.

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Beyonce said she wanted to work with him because “until there is a mosaic of perspectives coming from different ethnicities behind the lens, we will continue to have a narrow approach and view of what the world actually looks like.”

For her, helping younger artists is her way of “leveling the playing field.”

“Imagine if someone hadn’t given a chance to the brilliant women who came before me: Josephine Baker, Nina Simone, Eartha Kitt, Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Diana Ross, Whitney Houston, and the list goes on,” she said. “They opened the doors for me, and I pray that I’m doing all I can to open doors for the next generation of talents.” – Rappler.com