2008: Beyoncé and Jay Z got married. The music power couple tied the knot in a top-secret ceremony on April 4. Beyoncé later opened up about their relationship in an interview with Essence, saying, "We decide everything. My word is my word. What Jay and I have is real. It's not about interviews or getting the right photo op. It's real." She also revealed that she didn't want an engagement ring because "people put too much emphasis on that. It's just material and it's just silly to me."
2010: Pregnancy rumors began. Beyoncé fueled pregnancy rumors after she announced that she would be taking a break from the spotlight to focus on her family. In her 2013 HBO documentary Life Is but a Dream, she revealed that she had once been pregnant but miscarried. "About two years ago, I was pregnant for the first time," she said. "And I heard the heartbeat, which was the most beautiful music I ever heard in my life . . . Being pregnant was very much like falling in love. You are so open. You are so overjoyed. There's no words that can express having a baby growing inside of you, so of course you want to scream it out and tell everyone. [Early into the pregnancy], I flew back to New York to get my check up — and no heartbeat. Literally the week before I went to the doctor, everything was fine, but there was no heartbeat."