JAY-Z’s mother Gloria Carter and her longtime partner, Roxanne Wiltshire, are officially married.
Gloria, who is the co-founder of the Shawn Carter Foundation, and Roxanne, who is president of the Wiltshire Foundation, tied the knot at Tribeca 360° in Manhattan on Sunday.
Who is Roxanne Wiltshire? Read her bio below, courtesy of her foundation’s official website.
Roxanne Wiltshire was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, the youngest of the Wiltshire sisters.
She is a graduate of Holy Name Convent in Port of Spain, John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, and The Rutgers School of Law-Newark in New Jersey.
The proud mum to two daughters, she feels a keen and urgent need to be a better custodian of the world her girls will inherit.
Along with the rest of her family, Roxanne was devastated by the loss of her sister Wendy and is eager to explore new and daring avenues to realize lasting Change, as she navigates, for the first time a world without “the Wiltshire Four”.
She lives in New Jersey with her family.
Of course, JAY-Z, Beyoncé, and Blue Ivy were in attendance for the wedding as well as a host of other celebrities including Tyler Perry, Robin Roberts, Tina Lawson, and others.
Beyoncé took to Instagram to offer a look at her ensemble for her mother-in-law’s wedding day.
Tina Lawson shared a paparazzi photo of herself, Angie, Blue, and Bey walking to the venue and the caption read:
On our way to a beautiful wedding of Ms. Gloria and Roxanne Carter❤️ don’t we look like the Black version of Sex in the City walking across the street!
We just gonna call it “Love in The City”! cause my beautiful girl Blue is with us.
Waited till I got there to put on my heels! ❤️
See her original post below.
Robin took to her Instagram page to share a selfie with her longtime partner, Amber Laign, writing, “Special date night with Sweet Amber. Wishing all a fun, safe holiday weekend. #sundayvibes”
See her original post below.
Gloria Carter lives much of her life outside of the public eye, publicly came out in 2017 on JAY-Z’s “Smile.”
The 24X Grammy winner rapped:
Mama had four kids, but she's a lesbian Had to pretend so long that she's a thespian Had to hide in the closet, so she medicate Society shame and the pain was too much to take Cried tears of joy when you fell in love Don't matter to me if it's a him or her I just wanna see you smile through all the hate Marie Antoinette, baby, let 'em eat cake
Gloria offered the following words to close out the song:
Living in the shadow Can you imagine what kind of life it is to live? In the shadows people see you as happy and free Because that's what you want them to see Living two lives, happy, but not free You live in the shadows for fear of someone hurting your family or the person you love The world is changing and they say it's time to be free But you live with the fear of just being me Living in the shadow feels like the safe place to be No harm for them, no harm for me But life is short, and it's time to be free Love who you love, because life isn't guaranteed Smile
Gloria Carter was honored at the GLAAD Media Awards with a special recognition trophy for her contribution to the song.
In her acceptance speech, Gloria said:
Love gave me the courage to take the power that I allowed other people to have over my life for fear of them revealing my secret.
I am a human being who has a right to love who I love.
So everybody, just smile, be free.
Congratulations to Gloria and Roxanne.
