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Beyonce's longtime dancer Ashley Everett revealed in an exclusive interview with People in June 2023, why she left the superstar's dance group after working with her for 17 long years. The 35-year-old stated that she wanted to carve out her solo career and get out of Queen Bey's shadow.
Wide-eyed fans must've noticed that Ashley didn't feature in Beyonce's Renaissance World Tour that kicked off in Stockholm, Sweden on May 10, 2023. Everett explained her reasoning behind such a major decision in the interview, crediting the Covid-19 pandemic for giving her the time and breathing space to sit down and start devising a plan for herself.
"I feel like the pandemic was super transformative for me. It was the first time I was able to sit down and stay home and pour into me, fill up my cup. I'm not getting any younger and now I've been able to dive into other ventures and opportunities that I've always wanted to explore. It's a new journey — the renaissance of Ashley Everett essentially," said Ashley.
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However, Beyonce's longtime lead dancer had nothing bad to say about working with Queen Bey. Instead, she described working with the Cowboy Carter artist as 'incredible' and added that she learned a lot from her employer over the years.
Everett's solo ventures after parting from Beyonce, explored
In the People interview, Ashley Everett further talked about the solo ventures that she was undertaking at the time. The dancer had been a part of a couple of television shows called The Masked Singer and Good Trouble. She was also a part of a Home Good and a Nissan commercial. However, the one project that she was the most excited about was called Pepsi With Bad Bunny.
Entrepreneurism was another avenue the 35-year-old dancer was excited to pursue. She talked about relaunching her CBD Company and also discussed her plans with FitChoreo, a company excelling in 'rhythm-based workouts [that] will make you work hard and leave you feeling accomplished and the best you’ve ever felt.'
"It's been really fun. I have good balance in my life right now," Ashley concluded.
How did Beyonce react when Ashley Everett quit her job?
In the same interview, Everett goes on to talk about how Queen Bey reacted when Ashley told her that she would be quitting. The dancer recalled that Beyonce was extremely supportive, and turned down the rumors among fans that suggested a rift between the lead dancer and her employer.
"She made it clear and known that she supports me in anything I do. So that is clear and known," commented Everett.
Ashley Everett also narrated memories of working with Queen Bey and talked about the days when the Cowboy Carter artist didn't have a husband and kids. Beyonce would hang out for longer with her dancers, and the group would have a gala time in yachts and parties, according to her former lead dancer.
"I have really fond memories, especially in the earlier days. Like before she was married and before children when she would hang out more and we would party and go on yachts and things like that," she says. "We used to do a lot of that in the earlier days," she explained.
Everett further cited an instance of the adventures they used to go on with Queen Bey.
"When we were shooting the 'Heaven' video she asked me to be like her costar and said, 'What’s on your bucket-list? Let's do those things. So I wrote a bucket-list and we tried to do everything we could on it," the lead dancer recalled.
However, not everything was always sunshine and roses, and work would get hard sometimes. The dancer explained that preparing for Beyonce's Formation Tour and her Coachella headlining performance was especially tough because they had a lot of people involved.
Ending the interview with an insight into Queen Bey as a person, Everett described working with her as 'college.' According to her, Beyonce was a 'super hard worker' and would often connect the best with the person who she felt had the most 'authenticity' in a dance setting.
Beyonce's latest album, Cowboy Carter, was released on March 29, 2024. The album was the second part of a trilogy of albums that started with 2022's Renaissance and contained a concoction of genres including rock and roll, R&B, hip-hop, zydeco, blues, and folk, among others.
