Top biographer clears up long-running Rihanna/Jay Z romance rumors

Jay Z's rumored fling with protege Rihanna was all a work of fiction by an over-zealous publicist, according to top biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli.

After unlocking secrets about Michael Jackson, Madonna and Marilyn Monroe, Taraborrelli has taken on an unauthorized biography of Beyonce, and he insists reports suggesting Jay Z has cheated on his wife are way off the mark.

The writer/researcher claims the story about the rap mogul and Rihanna was all part of a ruse to score the Umbrella hitmaker her big break.

Taraborrelli tells news show Entertainment Tonight, "There was a big story that Jay was having an affair with Rihanna and Beyonce didn't know what to make of it.

"A publicist working for Rihanna and working for Jay, because Rihanna was tied to Jay's record label, put forth the story in order to boost her career and get her first song, Pon de Replay, up the charts... It was total fiction."

The spokesman at the center of the claims, Jonathan Hay, has since revealed he came clean to Rihanna and Jay Z before parting ways with the stars.

"I apologized to her (Rihanna)... this whole thing is very awkward," he admitted in an email to the New York Daily News.

Meanwhile, biographer Taraborrelli insists he found no evidence to suggest Beyonce is turning a blind eye to her husband's alleged infidelities: "To all the people out there who believe that Jay Z cheats on Beyonce and that she allows it, that's not gonna happen; Beyonce's not that girl. If he's cheating on Beyonce, she doesn't know about it because if she did he'd be out."

Taraborrelli's Beyond Beyonce is out now.