Kelis Opens Up About Her Abusive Relationship With Nas

Kelis reveals how Rihanna inspired her to leave her abusive marriage to rapper Nas.

In a new interview with The Hollywood Unlocked, Kelis has opened up for the first time about an alleged period of “mental and physical abuse” during her marriage to Nas. Kelis said:

“I have edited myself for nine years and I woke up this morning and said, ‘not today,’”

Kelis and Nas first began a relationship in 2002, later marrying in 2005. They filed for divorce in 2009, with Kelis giving birth to their son Knight a few months afterward. She details in the interview that it was this pregnancy that factored into her decision to leave Nas. She said:

“It was really dark. A lot of drinking. A lot of mental and physical abuse and it got to the point where if I wasn’t pregnant, I might have stayed with him… I was pregnant and it was a mess and I felt like I wasn’t going to bring a child into this.”

Elaborating on the alleged abuse, Kelis said:

“Did he hit me?…..Mmm hmmm. Did I hit him back?…..Mmm hmmm.”

She also cites Chris Brown’s felony assault case involving Rihanna as a major factor for pursuing a divorce. Kelis said:

“When the Rihanna and Chris Brown pictures came out I thought about coming out because I also had bruises all over my body. 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.”

Kelis also alleges that Nas would get drunk and they would fight because he would be blackout drunk. She said in the interview:

“There was a lot of drinking, there was a lot of just mental and physical abuse,”

Kelis speaks about how she probably would have stayed with Nas longer if she hadn’t gotten pregnant with their son, Knight, and part of her loyalty to him was the fact that they were married. She admitted:

“I really did love him, because we were married, we weren’t dating, we were married.”

Kelis isn’t trying to paint herself as a “saint” and says that she would hit him back when he would get too drunk, become aggressive and place his hands on her. She said:

“We would fight. He would black out, he drank way too much, he will never admit it. There were times when we would have literally the worst night ever and would wake up the next day and it’s like it never happened.”

As a way to make up for what happened, Nas would allegedly buy her gifts. Kelis says her love for him really kept her coming back along with the shame she felt about having accepted that sort of treatment from anyone. Kelis explained: