The current animosity between former Fugees Wyclef Jean and Lauryn Hill has, it appears, deep and tangled roots.

Vibe have published an extract from Jean’s forthcoming autobiography, Purpose: An Immigrant’s Story. The excerpt reveals that, prior to the dissolution of the group in 1997, Jean and Hill were engaged in an ongoing affair. Jean also claims that the breakdown of the pair’s personal – and, we can probably assume, creative – relationship was due to false claims about the paternity of Hill’s son Zion. Hill allegedly convinced Jean that the child was his, despite being aware that Rohan Marley was the father.

In Jean’s words: “In that moment something died between us. I was married and Lauryn and I were having an affair, but she led me to believe that the baby was mine, and I couldn’t forgive that. She could not longer be my muse. Our love spell was broken.” Jean’s words mark the first time the alleged affair has been made public.

Hill, currently embroiled in tax difficulties, has yet to exercise her right of reply. Fugees’ last album was since 1996’s The Score.