Cover Story: A Woman Possessed

When she lands in Nice, France, she's met by an agent who takes her to a special, empty line at passport control. But nowadays even princesses sometimes hit potholes. While she's at the baggage carousel, tired, hungry and running on empty after a long trip from Newark, New Jersey, to the south of France, someone from British Airways runs up and says two bags are missing. Beyonce mumbles that the missing bags are surely hers. She's annoyed. Anyone would be. But she says not one more word. "You wanna think she's a bitch because she's so fine," says her choreographer, Frank Gatson Jr. "But I've never seen someone so sweet. It trips me out. Knowing she wants to go off on somebody because somebody's pissed her off, she catches herself. She knows that humility is important. I think it's her upbringing in church." At the airport, she just rolls her eyes and grins. It's a fake smile, but it's polite, professional. She lives like a princess but doesn't have airs.

Every princess must have a prince, and Beyonce's is the recently retired MC Jay-Z, who's more than a decade older. "I know the dude a long time," an insider says of Jay-Z. "I've never seen him sprung like this. He cares about her, gives her great advice, he wants his woman to look right. They adore each other." Jay and Beyonce both refuse to discuss the relationship. "I don't say I'm single," she responds. "People are like, 'Why does she say that they're just friends?' I don't say that. I just don't talk about it. I just wanna protect my private life."

She does, though, talk about what sort of girlfriend she is. "In relationships, I think a lot like a guy," she says. "If I do something wrong, I don't get emotional. I think about it, and I change it and fix it. I've always been very logical." Still, she can find herself overcome by emotion sometimes: "When I do anything, I do it. If I fall in love, I'm there." She says she'd like to have children one day. "If it was a perfect world, I would have two boys and a girl," she says. "I love little boys, and girls are so much drama."