Alicia Keys Had to Explain to Son Why Parents Need Alone Time: ‘You Cannot Come in the Bed’ (Exclusive)

Even celebrity parents have to deal with the reality of having kids — and trying to maintain some independence.

In this week’s digital cover, Alicia Keys tells PEOPLE about the conversation she had to have with son Genesis, 9, her youngest child with husband Swizz Beatz, about letting his parents have some alone time.

Married since 2010, the “Empire State of Mind” singer notes that she and the rapper-producer “laugh a lot” together and find ways to embrace each other’s silly — and romantic — sides, even if Genesis doesn’t always allow them their private moments.

“I say, ‘Genesis, you can’t come to bed every night. You can’t!’ ‘But why?’ He’s cute though,” Keys says with a laugh, recalling how she “had to cut it off.”

She adds, “I said, ‘Look, when mom and dad are happy, the whole family is happy. If mom and dad aren’t happy, the whole family isn’t happy.'”

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Swizz Beatz/Instagram

Swizz Beatz enjoys it with his sons as they support Alicia Keys at the 2024 Super Bowl Halftime Show.

Keys’ story comes as she reveals that Genesis often takes test samples of Keys Soulcare — the cosmetics brand she launched in 2020 with dermatologist Dr. Renée Snyder — from her dressing room and into his room.

“He’s like Mr. Keys Soucare,” she says of her son. “He says, ‘What’s going on? I like this. Do you have any new ones? Do we have any new ones that haven’t been kicked out yet? Let’s bring them to my room.'”

The Grammy winner adds that Genesis “wants to take all the ones I’m testing” even though he has to remind him not to. “No, I have to use them. You can’t use them,” she recalls telling him, joking that he was “stretching around me” to try to get some of the product.

Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys with their sons. Alicia Keys/instagram

Keys then reveals that her entire family — including older son Egypt, 13 — “really, really likes it.” She says, “They like to take care of their skin.”

“My older son really likes to take care of his skin and I’m very happy about that because I feel like especially for young men, we don’t realize that young people often feel like they shouldn’t really pamper themselves or take care of themselves and they really don’t. she’s learning a lot about skin care,” says the “Girl on Fire” singer.

She notes, “Skin care is a big deal in our house.”

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In addition to encouraging her sons to take care of themselves, Keys and Beatz prioritized communication with them. In particular, she says it’s important to her that her boys are emotionally intelligent young men who can trust their gut when it comes to making decisions.

“I love conversation — we’re big on conversation. We’re big on communication,” she says. “There are definitely parameters for things, but we have to give them the ability to let them explore and figure out what they like. And I really take their lead in a lot of ways.”

She says she asked them, “What do you think? What do you want? What feels right?” Because I think that being in touch with your spirit and your intuition is a big key to life. If you don’t know what you are thinking or feeling, it will be difficult for you. I feel like I’ve spent a lot of time not fully understanding or trusting what I’m feeling, so I want to teach them to trust their instincts.”

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Source: HIS Education