According to an explosive new biography of Beyonce, she split with Jay-z for about a year in 2005, the same year he scouted Rihanna. His PR people spread news he was seeing Rihanna but it was all rumours, planned in order to increase Riri’s profile ahead of her forthcoming album, Pon-De-Replay.

It didn’t go down well with queen Bey and she split from Jay-z whom she had been dating since 2001. The astonishing claim comes in a new unauthorized biography by best-selling writer J Randy Taraborrelli titled Becoming Beyoncé: The Untold Story.

Describing the alleged split, he said: ‘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 of what to make of the situation with Rihanna.’

But he adds: ‘It’s safe to say that Rihanna and Beyonce are friends.’

According to Taraborrelli’s theory, the split would have been around 2005, when Pon De Replay was released. At that time Jay Z was 35, Beyoncé 24, and Rihanna 17.

He also addressed the notorious spat of May 2014, when Beyoncé’s sister Solange was caught on surveillance camera lashing out at Jay Z in the elevator of New York’s Standard Hotel after the Met Gala.

After a surveillance video of the incident made it’s way on the internet without audio, many wondered what caused Beyoncé’s 29-year-old sister to violently attack the Jay-z. The author spoke to several individuals who are close to Beyoncé, and claimed he has heard from eyewitnesses that the Drunk In Love singer told Jay he could not attend Rihanna’s after party at the Met Gala.

The author added: ‘I think it’s safe to say the only people who know for sure what happened are Bey, Jay, Solange and the bodyguard who were in the elevator.’

The author also alleges that Beyoncé has anyone looking after her three-year-old daughter Blue Ivy must sign a contract titled ‘Daily Program for Blue Ivy as Per Mrs. Carter.’

Taraborrelli explained: ‘If you are a nanny coming into her household, and you think you are going to just raise Blue Ivy the way you want to, that’s not gonna happen.

‘Beyoncé has sort of an agreement, a structure of how she wants her child to be raised and you have to adhere to this.’

The Single Ladies hitmaker has allegedly only had two boyfriends in her life, Jay Z and Lyndell Locke, who she was in a nine year relationship with.

While a member of Rih’s camp is said to have made up the story to boost her career, Bey, 34, reportedly believed that they’d hooked up.

Taraborrelli’s book also alleges that the couple, who began dating in 2002, split three years before they married because Bey’s dedication to her career ‘drove a wedge’ between them.

Jay with Beyonce, Solange and their mother Tina (Picture: Beyonce / Tumblr)

It was during this supposed split that the Rihanna rumours started, however Jay, 45, always denied having a relationship with the Bajan singer (Rihanna herself has dismissed them as ‘disgusting’).

Although they reunited and went on to marry in 2008 and had daughter Blue Ivy in 2012, Bey was reportedly always suspicious and didn’t appreciate Jay wanting to go and hang out with Rih after the Met Gala.

Taraborelli writes that Solange, who attended the event with the pair, told the rapper exactly what she thought of him, and well, we all saw what happened after that.

The unauthorised biography claims that Bey and Jay briefly split in 2005 (Picture: Getty Images)

While Jay, Bey and Solange have never spoken about what really went on during that footage posted by TMZ last year, they did release a statement saying they’d moved on from it.

‘Jay and Solange each assume their share of responsibility for what has occurred,’ read the statement.

‘They both acknowledge their role in this private matter that has played out in the public. They both have apologized to each other and we have moved forward as a united family.’