The 2026 Met Gala is officially underway, and Beyoncé is set to make her big return to the museum’s iconic steps as one of this year’s co-chairs alongside Nicole Kidman and Venus Williams. But as the BeyHive anticipates her sure-to-be sickening look, they can’t help but wonder where Queen Bey is ahead of fashion’s biggest night.

On Sunday, May 3, Vogue’s former editor-in-chief and the Met Gala’s chief organizer, Anna Wintour, hosted an intimate dinner with the co-chairs and star-studded guests, including Sabrina Carpenter, Zoë Kravitz, Serena Williams, and Donatella Versace. Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos were also in attendance as the gala’s primary donors and honorary co-chairs.

Despite being one of the Met Gala co-chairs this year, Bey was noticeably missing from Anna’s pre-gala event—at least, according to paparazzi photos.

Anna’s party wasn’t the only event the Grammy winner seemingly skipped out on. On Saturday, May 2, Beyoncé’s haircare line, Cécred, threw an event at The Surrey Hotel’s Casa Tua Club in the Upper East Side, where she also wasn’t present. Per footage captured by attendees, Bey’s mom, Vice Chairwoman and co-founder of Cécred, Miss Tina Knowles, attended the soirée on behalf of the award-winning brand.

The last time Beyoncé attended the Met Gala was way back in 2016, when she wore a peach latex Givenchy gown for the event’s Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology theme.

This will mark her first time at the coveted fashion event since then, and fans are already speculating that she may announce her highly anticipated Act III album and follow-up to Cowboy Carter on the Met Steps. (Though, her publicist, Yvette Noel-Schure, has denied any rumors that she’s kickstarting the era at the Met Gala.)

Anyway! While it’s unclear whether Beyoncé was actually absent from Anna’s dinner—because, let’s be real, the woman knows how to dodge some paps—there’s a chance she may have been en route to the Big Apple, as she also missed her own brand’s party.