Because of their tumultuos relationship, their marriage finally crashed and burned and they divorced in 1982. That was the year that all hell broke lose for Jan- she fell into deep poverty because she no longer had Marvin’s help and she turned to crack cocaine to numb her pain. As she tried to raise their two children, Frankie and Nona, she was also doing whatever she had to do to support her habit:

“I borrowed money from ex-lovers, friends, and family,” she says. “I got a job cleaning house for a lady who paid me half in cash and half in cocaine.”

Old School fun fact: In her book, Jan recalled a time when Michael Jackson, who was just 20 years old at the time, stopped by their house to visit. Marvin offered MJ a spliff, but the room quickly fell awkward because at that time, MJ had never used any drugs, so he was really uncomfortable for a minute at Marvin’s gesture, as he politely turned down his offer.
Like we always say here at ILoveOldSchoolMusic, some of our favorite entertainers, like Marvin Gaye, have accomplished many great things in life, but that does not always mean that they are great, perfect people- nah, not at all- they are simply perfectly flawed human beings, just like the rest of us. That doesn’t justify any of their wrongdoings, just as it doesn’t justify our’s, but it just makes them human with personality/character issues that they need to work hard to repair.
-ILoveOldSchoolMusic, Old School news with a new point of view