Alicia Keys and husband Swizz Beatz give a rare joint interview as they reflect on 'growing up with parents who shouted'

Alicia Keys has shared rare insight into her 16-year marriage to husband Swizz Beatz, with the couple insisting they've 'never fought' with each other.

The singer, 45, tied the knot with the rapper, 48, in 2010, and they share sons Egypt, 16, and Genesis, 11.

Posing for a stunning shoot with Vogue Italia, Swizz said he and Alicia vowed they will not emulate the environments they both grew up in, where their parents 'shouted'.

Swizz said: 'We never argued, we never raised our voices. And if we have different opinions, we talk about it like adults, over dinner. 

'We both grew up with parents who yelled and we know what a child feels in that environment. 

'Our children grow up with a completely different energy and it's one of the things we're most proud of.'

Sharing insight into their life at home, Alicia shared that she spends time playing board games and ping pong with her two sons.

She added: 'It allows me to disconnect from my phone and live in the moment with the people I love. They say I'm competitive, but really I just want to have fun.'

'For me, simplicity is the key to everything: walking on the grass, being under the trees, listening to a good record. We have a vital need for simplicity that we too often forget.'

Swizz also shared that he and Alicia enjoy a date night together once a month, regardless of their busy schedules, with the singer describing her husband as 'one of her safest places in the world'.

Alicia and Swizz also posed for a joint photo shoot together, having collaborated on her new album Lovers Rose, which will be released in 2027.

The star has recently offered insight into her upbringing in Hell's Kitchen in New York and the impact of being abandoned by her father when she was two.

The Empire State Of Mind hitmaker wrote her father a devastating letter when she was 13, telling him to stay out of her life.

In the letter, Alicia made clear how 'furious' she was at her father Craig Cook's failings, which included being absent for her birth. 

Cook also weighed in on his own shortcomings in the film and admits he was 'immature' at the time of his daughter's birth in 1981 and unable to take on the responsibility of fatherhood.

The film, titled Alicia Keys: Girl From Hell's Kitchen is directed by Emmy-nominated One 9, whose previous films include biographies of the rapper Nas and the former basketball player Allen Iverson.

Alicia told her father: 'I don't want anything. All I want is for you to mind your business. I don't want the phone calls, I don't want the letters, I don't want the fake acts that you pull to try and make me think you care. I don't want anything. That's the only way you can make me happy.'

Cook says that today 'I don't know if I can read it (the letter)' because it is so painful.'

The impasse between the two lasted until Keys was writing and producing her 2024 Broadway show Hell's Kitchen, which was loosely based on her life.

Read the full interview in the November issue of Vogue Italia.