Who is Roxanne Wiltshire? All about Gloria Carter's partner as Jay-Z's mom ties the knot

Rapper Jay-Z's mother and pop icon Beyoncé's mother-in-law, Gloria Carter married her longtime girlfriend Roxanne Wiltshire on Sunday, July 2, 2023. The star-studded wedding ceremony was held at Tribeca 360º in Manhattan, New York City. It saw Jay-Z stand beside his mother while Beyoncé attended as she took a break from her Renaissance Tour.

Beyoncé and Jay-Z's daughter, Blue Ivy was also in attendance at the wedding. Kelly Rowland, Corey Gamble, Tyler Perry, Robin Roberts, and Tina Knowles-Lawson also attended the wedding.

Gloria Carter came out as a l*sbian in 2017 and her son Jay-Z was supportive of her decision. He also celebrated his mother's coming out with the song Smile, which saw Gloria making an appearance and opening up about "living in the shadows" as a h*mos*xual woman. The song was part of his 4:44 album and was previously a poem written by Gloria Carter during a flight to Los Angeles on her way to see her son.

Apart from the song, Jay-Z has also opened up about feeling overjoyed when he found out that his mother was in love with a woman. He spoke about the same during an appearance on the Netflix show My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman.

"Imagine having to live your life as someone else and you think you're protecting your kids. For her to sit in front of me and tell me 'I think I love someone,' I really cried...I cried because I was so happy for her that she was free," he told the host.

---

Gloria Carter’s wife Roxanne Wiltshire is a philanthropist

Jay-Z’s mother Gloria Carter began dating Roxanne Wiltshire in 2018, a year after coming out as a lesbian, and the two tied the knot on Sunday, July 2, 2023.

Roxanne Wiltshire is a philanthropist and the co-founder and President of the Wiltshire Foundation. It is a charitable foundation that aims to bridge socioeconomic, academic, environmental, health, judicial, and cultural barriers and inequalities by advocating literacy. The organization is dedicated to serving everyone, especially the underrepresented, disenfranchised, and marginalized classes.

Born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, Roxanne Wiltshire is the youngest Wiltshire sister and their friends fondly call the sisters "the Wiltshire Four." She attended the Holy Name Convent at the Port of Spain, following which she attended the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. Following that, she earned her Master’s in Legal Studies from The Rutgers School of Law in Newark, New Jersey.

Roxanne has two daughters and lives with her family in New Jersey. Before their marriage, she would often visit her now-wife Gloria Carter in her Manhattan apartment.

---

Gloria Carter is the CEO of the Shawn Carter Foundation

Gloria Carter is the CEO of the Shawn Carter Foundation which she founded with her son in 2002. Like her now-wife, she is also a philanthropist. Her charitable organization works towards providing financial assistance to high school and undergraduate students with academic potential who lack the funds to pursue their dreams and ambitions.

During an appearance on the D’Usse Friday podcast in 2017, she opened up about revealing her true self to her son. She said that she was just sitting and telling him about it one day.

"I just finally started telling him who I was. Besides your mother, this is the person that I am, you know? This is the life that I lived…My life was never horrible. It was just different,” she said.

Gloria Carter is a musician, an LGTBQ+ advocate, and has three other children apart from Jay-Z, Eric Carter, Andrea Carter, and Michelle Carter. After being abandoned by her husband, she raised her kids as a single mother since the 1980s.

Jay-Z's music career was directly influenced by his mother, which he has publicly acknowledged multiple times, including at the 2019 GLAAD Media Awards. It is dedicated to LGBTQ+ members of the entertainment industry.