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“I'm trying to keep my head above water,” she said.
By Isaac Serna-Diez — Written on Aug 05, 2021
Dr. Dre, rapper, producer, and creator of Beats by Dre, is worth over $800 million but doesn't seem to be sharing his fortune with his eldest daughter, who says she's homeless.
With an album reportedly coming out soon that is supposed to “change the game,” he’s under some criticism following the revelation that his daughter is struggling to make ends meet.
Dre's daughter, La Tanya Young (sometimes seen spelled LaTanya), says she is currently living out of her car while her father keeps his millions to himself.
Why doesn't Dr. Dre’s speak to his homeless daughter, La Tanya Young?
Young learned through Dre's lawyer that the rapper no longer wanted anything to do with her because she had previously spoken to the press about him.
“I feel like I'm damned if I do, I'm damned if I don't,” she says.
Young is living out of a rental car in California.
Unable to afford an apartment, Young has been living out of a rental after moving to California last month when she lost her job in Nevada.
“The wage is higher in California — there was no work in Nevada,” she said, “There weren't enough jobs.”
She can’t even afford to keep the car that she’s renting and using for work.
“The car is a pretty penny,” she said. “It's an SUV that costs $2,300 for three weeks and I only paid for one week. Sooner or later they are going to take the car.”
Young is a mother of four kids, Tatiyana, 16, Rhiana, 13, D'Andre, eight, who is named after his grandfather, and Jason III, three.
Luckily, her kids have friends’ houses that they can stay at, and they have some family and friends that let them come and go from time to time, but things are only getting worse.
Young works three jobs to support her family.
As well as her job in a warehouse, Young, 38, works as a delivery driver for DoorDash and Uber Eats and picks up odd jobs.
At her warehouse job, she started making $15 an hour, but it still isn’t enough. She has bills to pay, and four kids to feed.
“I'm trying to keep my head above water,” she said. “I've been in debt for a while.”
Dr. Dre hasn't seen his daughter in 18 years.
Young hasn't seen her dad, whose real name is Andre Romelle Young, in 18 years and says she doesn’t even have his cell phone number. She communicates with him through his team but hasn't heard from him in 18 months.
Young used to receive rent payments and a monthly allowance from him, but in January of 2020, he said he would stop doing that.
Dr. Dre has never met his grandchildren.
Amid her concerns over her financial situation, she’s also worried about the childrens’ relationships with the grandfather they’ve never met.
“My kids are old enough to know who he is,” she said. “They are in shock that he doesn't want anything to do with them.”
Her heartbreaking story has left many wondering how this multi-millionaire could neglect his family.
Dr. Dre pays $300,000 a month in spousal support.
Young's story is on top of recent news that Dr. Dre has to pay spousal support to recent ex-wife Nicole Young — a whopping $300,000 a month.
Since LaTanya is the daughter of Dr. Dre and Lisa Johnson, she won’t be seeing any of that money either, but commends her that she was able to get any.
“I just heard that he has to pay $300k a month for spousal support — it's embarrassing because people are looking at me wondering: why?” she said. “I commend Nicole in a way — she did what she had to do.”
Many are wondering how Dr. Dre could be so cruel as to leave his daughter and grandchildren homeless and without help.
Hopefully, Dr. Dre will realize the error of his ways and help his daughter — or maybe his PR team will tell him to fix it before his new album is released.
Isaac Serna-Diez is a writer who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice and relationships.