The author of an unauthorized biography about Beyoncé drops a bombshell that Bey reportedly split from her husband Jay Z for about a year when rumors that he had hooked up with protegé Rihanna began to surface. The book, penned by J. Randy Taraborrelli titled Becoming Beyoncè, explains that the rumor was going around when Ri was only 17 years old. "[The rumor] was total fiction," the author told Entertainment Tonight. "Beyoncé didn't know what to make of this, and it actually ended up breaking them up for a time. They spent maybe a year apart from each other because Beyoncé just wasn't sure what to make of the situation with Rihanna."  Taraborrelli goes onto explain the rumor was most likely the result of a publicist trying to boost Rihanna's career at the time.
 Becoming Beyoncé also explains that it was Rihanna who was the source of conflict for that infamous fight between Jay and Bey's sister Solange in the elevator. “People told me that there was a whispered argument that night having to do with Jay wanting to go to a party [for] Rihanna,” Taraborrelli said. “Beyoncé did what Beyoncé does. She laid down the law... it was a whispered married couple’s argument that would’ve gone by completely unnoticed had not Solange overheard it.” The unauthorized biography Becoming Beyoncé drops Oct. 27.