Dr. Dre Legally Single, But Divorce Battle Still Looms

Dr. Dre and his wife of almost 25 years, Nicole Young, have legally been declared “single” in the eyes of the State of California. What does that mean for his divorce? Well, there’s probably still a long way to go in what looks to be an acrimonious and complicated divorce.

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Single But Not Divorced

A judge has ruled that Dr. Dre (born Andre Young) and Nicole Young are no longer married, meaning either one could marry again or do anything else a legally single person can do. They are, in effect, not beholden to one another for anything in the future. That doesn’t mean, however, the battle of Dre’s huge fortune is even close to over. The Los Angeles-born rap producer and entrepreneur is worth somewhere in the neighborhood of a billion dollars, almost all of which he earned after marrying Nicole in 1996.

Most of that money comes from the enormous success of his headphones, Beats By Dre, which Dre and his business partner, Jimmy Iovine, sold to Apple in 2014 for a reported $3 billion. There is no question this pile of money will be tricky to split and given California’s divorce laws, Nicole could be entitled to half of it. One of the biggest points of contention is sure to be a prenup Dr. Dre and Nicole signed when they got married, but Nicole claims she was forced to sign it “under extreme duress” and alleged that Dre ripped it up one night, which she argues invalidates it.

Dr. Dre, Nicole Young’s Messy Divorce Still Ongoing

According to previous court papers, the couple split in March of last year, and the divorce was officially filed in June 2020. In addition to the battle over the prenup, the couple has argued over temporary spousal support for Nicole and both have taken shots at each other in the media. Most recently, a judge ruled that Dr. Dre’s counsel in the divorce, Laura Wasser and Howard King cannot represent Dre due to conflicts of interest. Wasser is one of the most high-profile divorce attorneys in Los Angeles and is also currently representing Kim Kardashian in her split from Kanye West.