LaTanya Young, the 37-year-old daughter of music icon Dr. Dre, says it has been 17 years since she last saw her father — and she believes part of the distance is due to his estranged wife, Nicole Young. LaTanya is the eldest of Dre’s three daughters with former girlfriend Lisa Johnson. When her parents split, she was just five. From that point on, she says contact with her father became nearly impossible.
Instead of calling him directly, she had to communicate through security, assistants, or accountants. “I hated going through third parties,” she told DailyMailTV. “I never knew if he even got my messages. I never had a direct line to him.” Now a mother of four, LaTanya has faced years of financial struggle.
She says Dre once offered to pay her college tuition, but it never happened. She admits she was even on public assistance at one point, but insists she isn’t seeking her father’s money. With Dre worth over $800 million, LaTanya says all she truly wants is a relationship with him. “I really just want closure. I want to spend time with my father.”
LaTanya also believes Dre’s wife, Nicole Young, played a role in the strained relationship. She describes Nicole as “standoffish,” recalling an incident in her teens when Nicole refused to let her and her sister enter Dre’s home and even threatened to call the police.
With Dre and Nicole now divorcing, LaTanya hoped things might change. “I thought after Nicole was out of the family, things would be better,” she said.