Dr. Dre is known for his towering success in the music industry,
but in his personal life, he's faced hurdle after hurdle.
From the loss of his son to his multiple arrests, keep watching to learn more.
Since the 90s, Dr. Dre has been a mainstay in hip hop, and he's even helped launch
the careers of several other incredibly famous artists like, including Snoop Dogg and Eminem.
His success extends beyond music, too. Dr. Dre is also an entrepreneur,
amassing a net worth of $800 million, according to Newsweek.
But even with his fame and fortune, Dr. Dre's personal life has been difficult,
to say the least, starting with tragedies that have haunted him for decades.
Dr. Dre has been candid about how losing loved ones in his life has
shaped and motivated him throughout his career. In 1989, his half brother, Tyree,
died when his neck was broken while trying to break up a street fight.
Tyree was only 21 years old. At the time, Dr. Dre was on tour for Straight Outta Compton. Capital
Xtra writes that "The Message," the final track on his album The Chronic, is dedicated to Tyree.
On August 23, 2008, Dr. Dre's 20-year-old son, Andre Young Jr.,
was found dead in his Woodland Hills home from a heroin and morphine overdose.
Ultimately, the death of Andre Jr. was ruled as accidental.
At the time, Dr. Dre released a statement asking for privacy.
Friends remembered Andre Jr. as someone who always saw things in a positive light.
On January 4, 2021, TMZ reported that Dr. Dre had been hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
due to a brain aneurysm. The then 55-year-old was described as being stable and lucid.
Dre released a message on Instagram shortly after, thanking everyone for their love and support.
Fellow artists, including Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, and Missy Elliot, chimed in and wished him a
speedy recovery. He was still in the hospital on January 11, as doctors wanted to figure out what
happened to prevent another brain aneurysm, as they were unsure what had caused the first one.
Complex reports that a few weeks after his hospitalization, he was finally able to go home.
Unfortunately, there had been an attempted burglary at Dr. Dre's Brentwood mansion
while he was hospitalized. Four people were later arrested.
"While Dr. Dre was hospitalized, thieves tried to break into his house."
Nonetheless, Dre was able to make a full recovery and later spoke about his experience to the
Los Angeles Times. He called it a, quote, "really weird thing." He added that he felt
fantastic and was hoping to live a long life. According to Hollywood Life, Dr. Dre has nine
children from various relationships. However, Dre's relationship with some of his children is
strained to say the least. Biography reports that he didn't meet his first son, Curtis,
until Curtis was 20 years old. In December 2020, LaTanya, Dre's oldest daughter, claimed
that she had not seen her father in nearly two decades and that he had never met her children.
According to the Daily Mail, she later revealed that she was living out of her SUV rental and
was working for food delivery apps to make ends meet. The homeless single mother of four said
that despite being worth $800 million, Dre refused to financially help her.
LaTanya admits that her father has helped her out with rent and bills in the past,
but that he had stopped in January 2020 because she had spoken to the press
about him. Communication with him is so nonexistent that LaTanya wasn't even
aware of her father's condition when he suffered a brain aneurysm in early 2021.
Dr. Dre married Nicole Young in May, 1996. She is the mother of his youngest children,
Truice and Truly. In June, 2020, USA Today reported that Nicole had filed for divorce,
citing irreconcilable differences after 24 years of marriage. According to People,
the divorce quickly turned ugly. Nicole alleged that Dre had abused her so severely that she was
suffering from PTSD. Court documents described several incidents involving a gun and physical
abuse early on in their marriage. Nicole said Dre had, quote, "verbally and emotionally
decimated" her. In addition, the documents revealed that Dre had up to three mistresses.
Dre denied all allegations. The U.S. Sun reports that in September 2020,
Nicole asked for a whopping $2 million in monthly spousal support. It was later revealed that Dre
had been served divorce papers while he was at his grandmother's funeral.
In December 2021, 18 months after Nicole filed for divorce, the divorce was finalized.
In the end, Nicole got a $100 million settlement and no spousal support.
Even as he struggled personally, Dre's rise as a rapper and producer was meteoric.
Young took the name Dr. Dre and threw himself into the L.A. nightclub scene in the early 1980s.
By 1985, he formed N.W.A. with rappers Eazy-E, Ice Cube, D.J Yella, MC Ren, the Arabian Prince,
and the D.O.C. The group released their first album in 1987. However, it would be 1988's
Straight Outta Compton that would make Dr. Dre and his fellow rappers superstars. The album sold more
than 2 million copies, and more importantly, helped create a new genre of music: gangsta
rap. In 1992, Dr. Dre went solo and released The Chronic with his own label, Death Row Records.
"I just want to inspire. I want to be an inspiration,
I want to leave a mark and a legacy here."
But Dr. Dre's success in the music industry was shadowed by legal troubles. In 1994,
AP News reported that he had been arrested for a DUI after a chase through Beverly Hills and
Westwood. As he had already been convicted of battery in 1993 for breaking a man's jaw.
Dre had effectively violated his probation. He was sentenced to eight months in jail.
The Los Angeles Times writes that his sentence was later changed to five months.
According to News.com.Au, Dre attacked Dee Barnes, a music journalist, in 1999.
The assault occurred after Barnes had interviewed Ice Cube,
who had recently left N.W.A. after a rift between the rappers.
"He grabbed me by my hair and started slamming me up against the wall."
NME notes that this scene and other instances of
Dre's abuse of women were left out of the 2015 biopic Straight Outta Compton.
In 2017, Dre said he was out of his mind at the time of the incident and apologized.
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