Beyoncé says fame can ‘feel like prison,’ explains why she likes to ‘disappear’ between albums

Pop superstar explained ‘when you don’t see me on red carpets, and when I disappear until I have art to share, that’s why’

Beyoncé has said that fame “can at times feel like prison” in a rare interview to promote her new whiskey line.

The pop superstar, 43, announced her alcohol partnership with Moët Hennessy last month.

In an interview with GQ conducted over email, the “Single Ladies” singer was asked whether she ever felt “overwhelmed” by the weight of expectation set by her previous work, and whether she ever felt her reputation could be a “burden, or even a prison.”

Beyoncé responded: “I create at my own pace, on things that I hope will touch other people. I hope my work encourages people to look within themselves and come to terms with their own creativity, strength, and resilience.

“I focus on storytelling, growth, and quality. I’m not focused on perfectionism. I focus on evolution, innovation, and shifting perception. Working on the music for Cowboy Carter and launching this exciting new project feel nothing like prison, nor a burden.

“In fact, I only work on what liberates me. It is fame that can at times feel like prison. So, when you don’t see me on red carpets, and when I disappear until I have art to share, that’s why.”

Beyoncé onstage at the iHeartRadio Music Awards in Los Angeles in April 2024 (Getty Images for iHeartRadio)

Beyoncé’s most recent album, Cowboy Carter, was released in March to rave reviews. The Independent’s chief albums critic Helen Brown gave the record a full five stars, writing: “Throughout it all, Beyoncé’s hands are confidently and charismatically on the reins. The righteous zeal of her mission, and the giddy range of sonic adventuring, repeatedly gave me chills I haven’t felt since the release of Lemonade.”

Despite the album’s critical and commercial success, it was ignored by the 2024 Country Music Association awards.

The singer’s American whiskey label will be called SirDavis. In keeping with her Southern roots, SirDavis will be finished, blended, and bottled in Texas. The glass bottles will be complete with horse medallions in a nod to the Wild West history of the Lone Star State.

The liquor will be sold at $89 a bottle and takes its name after Beyoncé’s paternal great-grandfather, Davis Hogue, who used to make moonshine during the Prohibition era as a farmer working in the South.

In a press release, the pop star noted that Hogue inspired the line after she heard how he used to stash away whiskey bottles in empty knots of cedar trees as a part of a little scavenger hunt, surprises for his family and friends to find. Upon learning this, she felt as though it was “predestined” for her to launch a whiskey line.