Kelis said she waited nine years to tell the truth of why her marriage to Nas didn't work out, and why fans should forget about a reconciliation.
In a video interview, the "Milkshake" singer told Hollywood Unlocked that she suffered both mental and physical abuse from the rapper.
“I had bruises all over my body," she claimed. "It was really toxic. At seven months pregnant, I was terrified. I was like, I cannot bring a person into this. I can’t control this. I’ve got to get out."
Kelis, 38, and Nas, 44, were married from 2005 to 2010. A year later, their son Knight was born.
ABC News repeatedly reached out to reps for both Kelis and Nas, but didn't immediately hear back.
Nas previously opened up about the end of his marriage, and its very public divorce.
"There was a point where we were trying to hold onto a relationship that was finished," Nas told Complex in 2012 about his marriage's demise.
Nas added that the divorce was "hard on me because I don’t like to fail at anything. Accepting that I failed at this relationship -— and it was public -— messed me up. You ask yourself, 'How could that person be so cold?' And I’m sure she felt the same way about me. It was ugly."
I'm not frail. I'm not scared...I'm not weak.
Kelis described the marriage as a roller coaster.
"We had really intense highs and really intense lows. It was never normal," she said. "We were drinking too much, smoking too much, spending too much."
"We lived hard and because of that, when that comes down, it goes really low," she said, adding that their relationship was "really dark."
Kelis said she considered wanting to come forward about the alleged abuse around 2009 after pictures surfaced of a bruised Rihanna, who was physically attacked by her ex-boyfriend Chris Brown.
"I remember so clearly when the pictures came out. With that whole thing that happened with her and Chris Brown and the only way I can describe it was like double-dutch," she said, referring to the jump rope game. "I felt like, 'Do I jump in? Do I say it?' 'Cause I had bruises all over my body at that time."
Kelis said the reason she's never mentioned these allegations before was because she's "really private."
"I don't want people in my business," she continued. "I felt like, 'This is my partner. I chose this. We're gonna do this. We're gonna make it work.' I stayed for years after that and just, you keep it moving."
Kelis added, "I'm not frail. I'm not scared ... I'm not weak."
