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Swizz Beatz captured our attention when he posted an uplifting status on Instagram encouraging men to treat their women like queens and not to be jealous of their strength and accomplishments, but it quickly turned into him defending his wife against “home wrecking” comments.

Beatz’ message was mostly received with praise sans a few commenters who made mention of his relationship with Alicia Keys, which came about at the end of his marriage with ex-wife Mashonda. Swizz and Alicia eventually got married, bore children and started a blended family with Mashonda, who also had a son with the super producer. While Swizz, Alicia and Mashonda appear to be one big happy family, it never escapes the mind of certain fans, that Alicia Keys is a “homewrecker.”

We were all the way on board with Swizz’s message, but it gets cloudy around his clap back when he asserted that Mashonda is living her best life as a front row spectator to the Swizz, Alicia Keys show.

In 2009, Mashonda penned an open letter about Alicia and Swizz’s affair calling out the “Superwoman” singer for contributing to the decline on their marriage.

“If you are reading this Alicia, let me start by saying, you know what you did. 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,” she wrote on Twitter.

It feels fair to assume Mashonda would much rather be with the father of her son than a plus one on his adventure with his accomplished and extremely successful wife, who he glorifies as royalty. However, if Swizz can assume she is living her best life, we can make some assumptions of our own.

In a 2016 interview with Essence Live, Mashonda opened up about their blended family after being spotting on vacation with Swizz and Alicia, saying, “I think that we had no real choice.”

Surely Mashonda has gotten to a comfortable place in her life where she can effectively co-parent with Swizz, but it shouldn’t be disregarded that, at one point, her happiness came second to his desire to be with another woman. And not only did their marriage end, it ended amid an alleged affair.

Women are often left to pick up the pieces of a failed marriage when the man simply moves on. Mashonda had to deal with her feelings to get to a point to be the blended family they are today, but Swizz” shouldn’t be so oblivious that Mashonda’s “best life” may look different than what he has envisioned.

The grand return of the Melanin Awards amplifies and honors the finest Black-owned beauty brands with honest reviews, and discusses the evolution of beauty in Hip-Hop culture.