Republican lawmakers seek details on Beyonce, Jay Z Cuba trip

Beyonce and Jay Z

(Reuters) - Two Republican members of Congress have asked the U.S. Treasury Department for information on what type of license American pop star Beyonce and rapper husband Jay Z obtained for a high-profile trip to Cuba to celebrate their wedding anniversary.

Beyonce and Jay Z celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary this week in Havana, where big crowds greeted them as they strolled hand in hand through the Cuban capital.
They ate at some of the city's best restaurants, danced to Cuban music, walked through historic Old Havana and posed for pictures with admiring Cubans, who recognized them despite the past half-century of ideological conflict that separates the United States and Cuba.

In a letter dated on Friday, U.S. Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart, asked Adam Szubin, director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, for "information regarding the type of license that Beyonce and Jay-Z received, for what purpose, and who approved such travel."
Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart represent districts in south Florida where there is a high Cuban-American population.

"Despite the clear prohibition against tourism in Cuba, numerous press reports described the couple's trip as tourism, and the Castro regime touted it as such in its propaganda," the letter said.
"We represent a community of many who have been deeply and personally harmed by the Castro regime's atrocities, including former political prisoners and the families of murdered innocents."
Representatives for Beyonce did not immediately respond for comment on Saturday.

The long-standing U.S. trade embargo against Cuba prevents most Americans from traveling to the island without a license granted by the U.S. government, although President Barack Obama's administration has eased restrictions on travel to Cuba for academic, religious or cultural exchanges.
In Washington this week, the State Department said it had no prior knowledge of the visit. A spokeswoman at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana said she did not know if the celebrity couple obtained a license for their trip. If they did not, they could be exposed to a fine.

 http://omg.yahoo.com/news/republican-reps-seek-information-beyonce-jay-z-havana-021310136.html;_ylt=Aqujz1doMBNg_yYHqkRA.CYPpxx.;_ylu=X3oDMTRvYmx0Mm

Jada Pinkett-Smith on Will Smith Open Marriage Rumors

I Tell Him to "Do Whatever You Want"

Will and Jada Pinkett Smith

 

Hey, whatever works. Jada Pinkett-Smith addressed a longstanding rumor about her 16-year marriage to Will Smith in a new interview with HuffPost Live: That she and Will, 44, have an open relationship.

PHOTOS: See their wedding portrait and other stars' nuptials

"No, I think that people get that idea because Will and I are very relaxed with one another," replied the actress and mother of actor-singers Willow, 12, and Jaden, 14. The 41-year-old star then continued of the "persistent" rumor: "But I've always told Will: You can do whatever you want as long as you can look at yourself in the mirror and be okay," she said, without going into further specifics.
PHOTOS: Cheating scandals

"Because at the end of the day, Will is his own man," she said of the Men in Black star. "I'm here as his partner, but he is his own man. He has to decide who he wants to be and that's not for me to do for him," she said, adding: "Or vice versa."
PHOTOS: Will and Jada and other couples with huge height differences

The couple have battled more than one false report of an imminent divorce, most memorably in summer 2011, when the couple, who wed in 1997, slammed split rumors -- and talk that Pinkett Smith had an affair with HawthoRN costar Marc Anthony during his marriage to Jennifer Lopez. "Will is my best friend," she told HuffPost Live. "He's been by my side for some of the most difficult parts of my life. You always have that for your foundation."