Beyonce opens up about her past, present & future.

Beyonce has always remained relatively quiet about her personal life, but the singer recently sat down with Gotham Magazine and spoke candidly about her past, present and future.

On her original group Destiny’s Child: “It was definitely difficult because I was so young, and my father was my manager and the group was like family. I felt like, what are we gonna do? We weren’t making any money yet. I was the lead singer, so I got the blame. And I’m just a naturally sensitive person. If someone in the room is crying, I’m gonna cry even if I don’t know them. And that was the first time I had to deal with rumors and people attacking me. I was an 18-year-old kid, so I didn’t understand it was just a part of this life and it wasn’t personal. I didn’t have a thick skin yet. I was so embarrassed and wanted to defend myself and please everybody.”

On the stress of her career: “Years ago, I was definitely headed for a breakdown,” she continues. “Just way too much work—my life was my career and I had no other life. It started when I was 15 and I hadn’t learned the importance of balance, making sure I took a day off. I didn’t know what ‘no’ was, what boundaries were. At this point, I know that after a certain amount of time I have to go home. I know what I like now. It just takes life experience to get a good balance. When you’re young, you don’t know what relaxes you.”

On her marriage to Jay – Z: “This is like my first relationship,” she says. “I’m very private and, of course, I don’t talk about it, but I’m very, very happy. That’s all I’ll say. We were together for a really long time before we got married; we were in no rush. We don’t have a normal relationship because of our careers. But celebrity or not, you go through the exact same things. We’re not perfect.”