Beyoncé spoke about her “rebellious” decision to cut her hair into a pixie hairstyle more than a decade ago.
In an interview with L essenceWriting in the March/April issue of Beauty, the 42-year-old singer said she decided to cut her hair during a “very big emotional shift” in her life.
At the time, the 32-time Grammy winner — who rocked icy blonde waves at the premiere of Tyler Perry's “Mea Culpa” on Friday — She “just wanted it,” she said, because she wanted her physical appearance to reflect the “transformation” she was going through inside.
At the time, in 2013, there were rumors circulating about her husband Jay Z's unfaithfulness, and three years later she dropped her album Lemonade, in which she hinted at his infidelity.
He later confirmed that he cheated and alluded to the fact that they narrowly avoided divorce in a conversation with New York Times Style Magazine.
During her interview, Beyoncé gave a thoughtful answer to a question about her short hair era and whether or not it represented a “change in her life.”
'I did. She said: That's true. “I love how we associate a certain hairstyle with moments in our lives, like the short hair moment.”
She recalled that particular day and said she wasn't thinking about a particular hairstyle but just wanted to “liberate” herself by cutting her hair.
“I remember the day I decided to cut off all my hair,” she said. “I didn't have a particular style in mind.”
She then confirmed that she was going through an important time in her life.
“It wasn't an aesthetic choice, but it was a very big emotional shift and transformation that I was going through,” she said.
“A big part of my identity as a performer has been tied to flowing poetry,” she explained. “Cutting my hair was a rebellion against being the woman that society thinks I am supposed to be.”
The 16 Carriages hitmaker said she had just welcomed her daughter Blue Ivy, now 12, and wanted to free herself from the expectations placed on her about what kind of mother she should be.
“I was a new mom, and something about the freedom of being a mom made me want to get rid of it all,” she said. It was a physical representation of me throwing away the expectations placed on me. I just wanted to stop it.
She recalled grabbing the scissors herself and cutting her own long hair, which she said was “very intentional,” much to the astonishment of her hairstylist and friend Neil Farina.
“It was really long and really thick and really healthy,” Beyoncé recalls. “I just got the scissors and cut it off.”
“This was what I needed to do,” she added. “After that, I became very brave.
“It was the first step of many bold decisions I made in my life and career that led to where I am now.”
