Dr Dre and Nicole Young: A love story of 24 years that ended in divorce, prenup drama and feud over $800M empire
It seems like every other day celebrity couples who were once very much in love are now splitting up. The latest couple to face this tragedy is Dr Dre and Nicole Young. Nicole filed for divorce on June 29, 2020, to which Dre responded by revealing something that her petition didn't have — a prenup.
Dre claimed in his filing that he agreed to pay full spousal support but added that the division of assets and properties should only be governed by the couple's prenuptial agreement. Nicole did not include a notice of the prenup in her filing and sources close to her claimed that she never signed one. If the reports of Young not signing the prenup are true, Dre would have to split his fortune worth millions. With a net worth estimated to be about $820M, Dre's nine-figure fortune includes his music royalties, real state profits and his hugely lucrative Beats Electronics brand worth millions.
Following the divorce announcement, Los Angeles-based attorney Peter M Walzer told Fox News, "Well, of course, anything he acquired before marriage is his separate property, with or without an agreement and sold Beats during the marriage and there doesn't appear to be a separate component to it. So that's a huge amount of money and it's probably all community property."
The couple has been married for 24 years now and the news of their separation came as a shock to fans. Here's a look at their tumultuous relationship.
When they found love
Dr Dre and Nicole Young first met in the mid-1990s while she was still married to Sedale Threatt. As Dre took over her heart, Young filed for divorce with Threatt after four years of marriage. Dre even reportedly wrote a love letter to Young back then.
The wedding
After dating for a year, the couple got married on May 25, 1996. They never revealed many details about their wedding as everything happened in a flash between Young's divorce with ex-husband Threatt and her marriage with Dre.
When Dre built his empire with Young
Dre was at the peak of his success when he met Young and his success grew after he married Young. Dre found fame for his studio album titled 'The Chronic' in 1992. Later, in 1996, he founded his own label 'Aftermath Entertainment' and signed Eminem and 50 Cent for it, this was the same year he got maried.
When they built a family 'together'
In the early years of their marriage, Dre stepped away from the stage and started producing for other big artists such as 2Pac and SnoopDog. The duo welcomed their first child Truth in the late '90s. Later, they welcomed their second child named Truly. Apart from Truth and Truly, Dre is also a father of four children from previous relationships named Tyra Young, LA Tanya Danielle Young, Marcel and Curtis.
When Young filed for divorce
The couple was last seen together in February 2020 at a Tom Ford fashion show and in an interview in the same month with BigBoyTV, Dre seemed excited about Young's birthday as he said, "I decided to just keep it low-key this time. I'm going to have a few friends over and my wife is going to do a crab boil for me." On June 20, 2020, Young filed for divorce with Dre stating the reason for separation as "irreconcilable differences", leaving all their fans in shock.