LaTanya Young, the eldest daughter of music mogul Dr. Dre, has revealed that she and her four children are homeless and haven’t gotten a dime from her millionaire father in 18 months despite her pleas for help.
“I have friends and family that will let us come back and forth but the majority of the time I'm living out of my car,” the 38-year-old told the UK’s Daily Mail exclusively.
As of this year, the rapper, producer and music entrepreneur has an estimated net worth of $820 million USD. Meanwhile Young works as a delivery driver for DoorDash and Uber Eats and as an assembler at a warehouse, but she says those precarious gigs aren’t enough to cover rent in California, where average monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment is about 55% higher than the national average.
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As a result, Young has been living out of a rented SUV while her four children stay with friends. “It's an SUV that costs $2,300 USD for three weeks and I only paid for one week. Sooner or later they are going to take the car,” she said.
Young, whose mother split from Dr. Dre when she was only five years old, says she has not seen her inordinately wealthy father in 18 years and to date, doesn't even have his cell phone number. She says that since she was a child, all communication between them has had to go through his team.
Young also said that her father has helped her in the past by paying her rent and giving her an allowance, but that ended in January 2020 after she spoke to the press about their relationship. “His lawyer has said that my dad doesn't want to help me because I've spoken about him in the press,” she said. “I feel like I'm damned if I do, I'm damned if I don't.” Her circumstances then took a turn for the worse when she had to move from Nevada to California last month in order to find work, a process that has been extremely difficult for her.
Since the news came out, social media has been lighting Dr. Dre up (and rightfully so) with many people asking the obvious question of why a man who has a net worth of over $800 million USD would leave his child and young grandchildren out on the street.
Of the few people supporting Dr. Dre, sports analyst Shannon Sharpe has probably been the loudest. “A 38yr old grown woman trying to shame her father into taking care of responsibilities she created,” he tweeted about the situation. “I’m my kid’s last option not 1st choice.” This statement is callous on its own, coming from any parent, but with all the misguided notions that Black capitalism is a way to build generational wealth, one has to wonder: where are the “generations” in this equation? How is it that a man with Dre’s money and resources can so easily leave his child and grandchildren out in the cold — regardless of his hurt feelings?
And despite being on the hook for other major financial responsibilities as some have noted (back in July, he was ordered to pay his ex-wife Nicole Young nearly $300,000 USD a month in spousal support), it seems like Dr. Dre has more than enough funds to support his daughter and grandchildren — he’s simply choosing not to.