Dr. Dre released a statement regarding the incidents:
"I’m doing everything I can so I never resemble that man again"
Dr. Dre has apologized to women he abused during the late 1980s and ’90s, after his history of violence against women resurfaced during the promotion of a biopic about his rise to fame.
“I apologize to the women I’ve hurt,” he told the New York Times. “I deeply regret what I did and know that it has forever impacted all of our lives.”
The newly-released Straight Outta Compton was a box office success, but its release has dredged up past complaints against Dr. Dre, who is both a co-producer and a subject of the film. Many critiqued the film for ignoring criticism of N.W.A. for being misogynistic, and omitting references to episodes when the rapper hit or abused women.
Hip-hop journalist Dee Barnes, who filed charges for physical assault against Dr. Dre in 1991, decried the film for Straight Outta Compton’s revisionist history at the expense of women excluded from the narrative.
Dr. Dre also said in the statement,
“Twenty-five years ago I was a young man drinking too much and in over
my head with no real structure in my life. However, none of this is an
excuse for what I did. I’ve been married for 19 years and every day I’m
working to be a better man for my family, seeking guidance along the
way. I’m doing everything I can so I never resemble that man again.”
Michel'le, early 90's R&B singer and ex-fiancée of Dr. Dre,
spoke about her relationship with the now-billionaire producer in a new
interview with VladTV. Both have openly acknowledged that he was
abusive towards her during their six years together (1990-1996), but the
issue has risen to the forefront once again because that history (along
with his known abusive relationships with other women) was omitted from new N.W.A biopic Straight Outta Compton.
In the new interview, Michel'le seems complacent about her omission
from the film, telling Vlad the film is "Cube's version of his life."When told that Dr. Dre also executive produced the film, she replied, "Why would [Dr.] Dre put me in it? If they start from where they start from," she added, "I was just a quiet girlfriend who got beat up and told to sit down and shut up."
Michel'le, who's currently in the public eye as one of the stars TV One's reality series R&B Divas: Los Angeles, detailed the abuse in a recent interview with The Breakfast Club. "When he gave me my very first black eye, we laid in the bed and cried," she said on the morning show. "He was crying and I was crying because I was in shock, hurt and in pain. I don’t know why he was crying, but he said 'I’m really sorry.' That was the only time he ever said he was really sorry. And he said, 'I’ll never hit you in that eye again, okay?'" She said in the interview that he kept that promise, but hit her in other places -- "I have scars that are just amazing," she told the show.
Dr. Dre confronted abuse allegations during the Straight Outta Compton press tour, telling Rolling Stone, "I made some fucking horrible mistakes in my life.
"I was young, fucking stupid," he continued. "I would say all the allegations aren't true -- some of them are. Those are some of the things that I would like to take back. It was really fucked up. But I paid for those mistakes, and there's no way in hell that I will ever make another mistake like that again."
