En Vogue’s Dawn Robinson Thanks Fans For Supporting Her ‘Van Life’ Journey
Source: Victor Decolongon / Getty
Former En Vogue singer Dawn Robinson shocked fans when she revealed in a YouTube video that she’s been living in her car for the last three years. The 58-year-old musician says she was forced into it after leaving Las Vegas, where she was living with her parents. She and her mother weren’t getting along, and in the video, she says that she moved to Los Angeles to live with a former manager who told her he’d be willing to have her stay with him. But after getting there, he instead moved her into a hotel, something she says he did to establish more control over her. After eight months, Robinson elected to live on her own, in her car, where she’s been ever since.
“That first night was scary,” she said in the video. “But then as I got to know what to do in my car and how to do it, like how to cover my windows and you know you don’t talk to certain people, you’re careful of telling people that you’re alone, as a woman especially. And I’m a celebrity. I don’t just divulge that to people. If you don’t know who I am, I’m not telling you that part. I felt free; that was a sense of freedom that I had. I was so free. I felt like ‘Wow, this is so different.’ I felt like I was on a camping trip. I just felt like it was the right thing to do. I didn’t regret it.”
Robinson’s story went viral and fans weighed in, complimenting her on her honesty and wishing her well. Robinson is one of the founding members of En Vogue, the platinum-selling girl group that included Maxine Jones, Cindy Herron, and Terry Ellis. Robinson sang lead on several of their biggest hits in the ’90s, including “My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It” “Don’t Let Go (Love),” “Whatta Man,” and “Giving Him Something He Can Feel.”
She left the group in 1997 and signed with Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment, but never released an album with the label, instead joining Raphael Saadiq and Ali Shaheed Muhammad’s supergroup Lucy Pearl. They made one critically acclaimed self-titled album but Robinson ultimately left that group as well. She has since done a season of reality TV, appearing on R&B Divas: Los Angeles, and has over the years performed with EnVogue and with Jones as part of the duo The Funky Divas.
Robinson says she’s been helped by her brother and assistant. She responded to the positive messages in an Instagram post.
“FAM! I am OVERWHELMED by the out pouring of love from my Car Life video lol!!! Going viral and breaking the internet was AMAZING! As I said, my aim was to inspire but some people are worried. Please don’t be 🫶🏽 I’ll go into more detail in Ep 7
Oh, and ignore the trolls who are trying to attach themselves to my story lol!! Leeches do that.”
The people attaching themselves to her story are Jermaine Dupri, who said that Robinson did what she felt compelled to do.
“It was her choice to live in her car,” he said on an IG Live with producer Chad “Dr. Suess” Elliott. “I saw somebody send a message that said, ‘Jermaine, Monica, all of y’all, can y’all put some money together to help Dawn out?’ From my understanding, she was basically saying that she saw other people living in their vans, living in RVs, and she welcomed the idea of doing this.”
He added, “Having an assistant is not something you should even think about if you don’t have no money. I’m bringing this up because Dawn, when she was telling the story…about her living in her car for the last three years, she said, ‘I was telling my assistant,’ and when she said that, I said, ‘Oh sh–, wait a minute’…it changed my whole vibe of what I was watching. Because, ain’t no god— way she got an assistant, and she ain’t got no money. Ain’t no way!”
But Robinson did receive a surprising message from her ex-husband Andre Allen, a musician and songwriter who now works for Hilton Hotels. The former couple was married from 2003 to 2010. He said in a TikTok video that the ‘media’ and blogs have gotten some things wrong, including his age. The now 52-year-old offered Robinson a job working with Hilton, where he says he now makes more money than he ever did in the music business.
Allen said that the music industry itself may be behind Robinson’s struggles.
“The music industry is demonic,” he says. “It takes and takes until you have nothing left and then it seeks to destroy you for the ratings.”
In his video, he said they both had issues that impacted them as a couple and that he supports Robinson and hopes that she’s able to get back on her feet.
“When I see my ex struggling, someone who had my heart for over ten years, I don’t believe that BS about van life.”
He continued, “I believe it was a cry for help, so I reached my hand out to help. The sad part is I don’t think she’ll take it. This industry, it twists your head up so tight that the only thing that matters is the crowd’s approval. And she doesn’t have the crowd anymore.”
