The woman who accused Jay-Z of sexually assaulting her when she was 13 has formally recanted her allegations. In a court declaration, she said she never met or spoke to the rapper and that he never raped her.

Reuters reported that the declaration was filed Thursday in connection with a defamation lawsuit brought by Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter. The lawsuit is in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The woman had previously been identified as Jane Doe. Her declaration marks a complete reversal of the accusation that placed Carter at the center of a serious civil case and prompted his repeated denials.

Jane Doe said there was “no truth to any of my claims” against Carter. She also stated that she was not receiving payment to make the declaration.

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Her account was direct and sweeping. She said Carter never raped her, that she had never met or spoken to him, and that he had never engaged in inappropriate conduct toward her.

The declaration goes further than the earlier withdrawal of her civil lawsuit. Instead of merely ending the case, Jane Doe is now explicitly saying that the accusations she made against Carter were false.

Jane Doe also said Sean “Diddy” Combs did not rape her. Reuters noted that her allegations were separate from the criminal case that resulted in Combs being convicted in 2025 on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.

The dispute began in 2024, when Jane Doe accused Combs of raping her in 2000. She said she was 13 years old at the time of the alleged incident.

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Jay-Z was later added to the civil lawsuit alongside Combs. Jane Doe alleged that Carter also participated in the assault, an accusation that he denied.

Jane Doe eventually dropped the civil lawsuit. Carter responded by suing her and her law firm, accusing them of defamation and malicious prosecution.

That defamation action led to the filing of her new declaration. The document does not simply remove Carter from her previous account but rejects the central claims she had made about him.

Jane Doe also raised questions about how her original lawsuit was prepared and filed. According to Reuters, she claims that her attorneys filed the original case without conducting an independent investigation, background inquiry or due diligence to corroborate the allegations.

She said a lawsuit was filed on her behalf weeks later. Jane Doe claims she had not been given a draft of the complaint before the filing occurred.

Following the declaration, Jay-Z’s lawyers said they are dropping Jane Doe as a defendant in his defamation case. Representatives for Carter declined to give Reuters any additional comment.

Her removal as a defendant does not necessarily bring the wider legal dispute to an end. Carter’s lawsuit also involves the law firm connected to the original allegations, while Jane Doe’s declaration introduces questions about what was done to investigate her claims before they entered court.

For Carter, however, the most significant development is unmistakable. The woman who accused him has now formally stated that she never met him, never spoke to him and was never raped by him.

The declaration represents a major change in the case after nearly two years of allegations, denials and legal filings. What began as an explosive accusation against Jay-Z has now been explicitly withdrawn by the person who made it.

Carter’s lawyers have acted on that reversal by agreeing to remove Jane Doe from his defamation lawsuit. The remaining dispute, as described in the source, still concerns the law firm involved in bringing the original claims.

Jane Doe’s latest account therefore changes both the public accusation and her role in Carter’s legal action. Her declaration rejects the allegations against Carter while also challenging the process that she says led to the original complaint being filed.