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In a moving interview with VIBE’s Tracy Garraud, Mashonda Dean open’s up about her newfound independence, re-entering the dating scene, and about coming to terms with her ex-husband’s, Swizz Beatz’s new relationship.

You have to giver her so, so much credit for keeping it together throughout the ordeal. In this interview, she presents herself as a poised, mature woman whose primary concern is the well-being of her son, 3.5-year-old Kaseem. 

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When asked about her meeting with Alicia Keys, Mashonda divulged that it had occurred in March. She remarked:

When I wrote her that Twitter letter everybody wanted to say things like ‘Oh, what do you need to meet her for? It’s not her problem, it’s Swizz’s.’ I’m like, ‘You have a kid, go through what I went through and then talk to me.’ I’m not having my son around anybody I don’t know. I don’t give a shit who you are and how much money you have and what management he’s going to be under when he visits you. I need to see you and I need you to see how serious I am about him. And that’s what happened. We had to sit down, and I told her how I felt. I didn’t mention anything else, it was all about my son and it was fine after that. I’m not going sit and talk to [them] about what happened between the three of us. This is about my son.

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 And though she has not received an apology from the couple, engaged and expecting their first child, she says she does not expect to. In her words,

No, because I honestly feel like they think they didn’t do anything wrong. I don’t care about their apology. As long as he’s a great dad to my son and she’s a good step-mom, they don’t have to worry about apologizing because they will never understand or care about the pain I went through. 

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There is just too much irony that Mashonda cites “Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart” and a song that was made for her. But at the same time, in a pretty respectful nod to Alicia, she acknowledges that every woman deserves to feel the bliss of being madly in love. 

…not at the expense of another woman though. But I understand why some of the decisions were made on her part, because her heart was so in it. I can’t fight that [and] I can’t fight her because she’s a household name. People are always go