Former Death Row Records producer Kurt Kobane made some wild allegations during a recent interview with The Art of Dialogue. Not only did he claim Suge Knight used to receive love letters from actress Halle Berry, he also said Dr. Dre’s ex-fiancée and son’s mother Michelle told once told Tupac Shakur she caught him in bed with another man.
But according to The Neighborhood Talk, Michelle never said anything of the sort. In fact, she reportedly said it was a bold-faced “lie” and confessed she couldn’t comprehend why Kobane would say that. She confirmed she discussed plenty of topics with the late 2Pac, but Dr. Dre’s sexuality wasn’t one of them.
As depicted in the 2016 Lifetime documentary Surviving Compton, Michel’le and Dr. Dre’s relationship was undeniably complicated. Michel’le started working with Dre on the World Class Wreckin Cru’s 1987 cut “Turn Off the Lights” and their son was born in 1991. But alleged physical abuse rocked their relationship and she reportedly had to have her nose surgically corrected as a result of Dre’s violence.
Dr. Dre has been accused of assaulting numerous women over the years. In 1991, he brutally attacked former Pump It Up! host Dee Barnes at a Hollywood industry party, which resulted in a lawsuit. In the 2017 HBO documentary The Defiant Ones, Dre admitted he was “out of his fucking mind” when he assaulted her and offered a public apology.
“Any man that puts his hands on a female is a fucking idiot,” Dre said in the clip. “He’s out of his fucking mind and I was out of my fucking mind at the time. I fucked up. I paid for it. I’m sorry for it. I apologize for it. I had this dark cloud that follows me and it’s going to be attached to me forever. It’s a major blemish on who I am as a man.”
But allegations of abuse continue to this day. In June 2020, wife Nicole Young filed for divorce after 24 years of marriage amid claims he was physically, verbally and mentally abusive. Comedian Lunell corroborated her story in January during an interview with VladTV, not long after Dr. Dre suffered a brain aneurysm.
“Now, one would say, does Dre get a pass for being such a notorious woman beater ’cause he makes good music?” she said at the time. “One would say. One would say that some people ain’t gonna be praying for Dr. Dre. A lot of women, but you can get a pass, it seems, if you’re popular. He a notorious woman beater.
“I love Dr. Dre’s music, don’t get it fucked up and I don’t want to see any of our icons die. Some of the charges his wife was making was even that he had been violent with her. His track record sucks.”