Swizz Beatz: 'Divorce was the hardest'

Kasseem 'Swizz Beatz' Dean has said that his recent divorce from R&B singer Mashonda was the "hardest thing" that he has "ever been through".

In an interview with The Wizards NYC, the producer/rapper repeated his earlier claim that he had never cheated on his former wife and addressed the "real" reasons why he decided to end his marriage.

Beatz said: "I don't got a wife no more. I'm 99 percent done, 99 percent. You lucky, you lucky I'm telling you. I'm lucky in a lot of ways, also, with my divorce but it's like the hardest thing I've ever been through. By far. You know what I'm saying?

"But it was a learning experience. The thing that upset me the most was the approach from the other side, it didn't have to be like that because it's false. It's like false things and having the wrong people around. Pumping yourself thinking you're gonna get a TV show off of so-called exposing.

"It's like clown things and it's, like, I'm always quiet with this s**t. I can't answer, I can't even feed into because it's that much foolery to me. The reason why I got my divorce is for real s**t. I didn't get busted cheating, it wasn't none of that. I had to, I got put into a situation where she was making me pick the relationship with my older son over my marriage."

In January, Swizz Beatz got engaged to Alicia Keys, with whom he had previously been accused of having an affair.