Jan Gaye

Facts of Jan Gaye

Jan Gaye is famous for her former spouse, the late Marvin Gaye. 

Marvin was an American soul singer and songwriter. Jan is an actress known for her work in Lobster Man, Tavis Smiley, and Marvin Gaye.

Marvin was brutally murdered by his father

The world lost a gem after Marvin was brutally murdered by his father, Marvin Sr., in April 1984. 

Marvin was an unwanted child and was never loved by his father. 

According to Marvin’s mother, Alberta, her husband suspected that Marvin was not his child, although he knew he was. 

He didn’t want her to love him as well. 

The ongoing arguments between Alberta and her husband on the misplaced Insurance Policy letter had led Marvin to be furious. 

He had asked his father to talk to his mother in person instead of yelling from his room. 

He could not hold his rage after his father’s denial, due to which he shoved him out of the room to the hallway hitting and kicking him. 

He continued hitting his father, following him to the bedroom. 

After his mother convinced him to leave his father’s room, he was later in his room when his father came up with a .38 pistol and shot him in his right chest area. 

The second time he was shot at point-blank range. Marvin was pronounced dead after he was taken to the hospital.

How did she end up marrying her idol?

Jan was under 10 when she was attracted to Marvin seeing him on MTV. 

Luckily, her mother was dating Ed Townsend, who co-wrote Let’s get it on. 

Ed informed her mother about him and Marvin working together to which Jan and her mother did not believe. 

To assure them, Ed invited Jan to his studio, where she got to meet her idol. 

By the time she was 17 and Marvin was 33. Despite their age gap, they got along and madly fell in love. They married in October 1977.

Her then-spouse Marvin physically, sexually, and emotionally abused her 

Jan had to endure physical, sexual, and emotional abuse throughout her marriage to Marvin. 

She was so in love with him that she submerged herself in the world of s*x and illegal d*ugs to satisfy her husband. 

She was even encouraged by him to get part in O*gy. Eventually, after becoming the mother of her kids, all the praises about her beauty, her physique slowly faded away, giving birth to criticism leaving her in fear.  

There was a time when he held a knife to her throat out of rage, suspecting her of having affairs, and begged her to provoke him into killing her. 

After the incident, she moved out of their Los Angeles Home with her kids.

What led to divorce?

According to Jan, she tried many times to give him a divorce but stopped. 

Through their own experience of being used, they had learned how to be abusive to others. 

Following Marin’s infidelity, she also ended up sleeping with Maze singer Frankie Beverly and later hooked up with Marvin’s music rival Teddy Pendergrass. 

They still got together after the knife incident as they could not stay away from one another. 

They were heavily into d*ug addiction. 

In an interview with Rhode Island Monthly, she confronted that if they both had got clean at the same time, then they would have saved their marriage. 

The couple filed for divorce in 1982.

Mother to her two children

From her relationship with Marvin, she delivered their first daughter, Nona, in 1974, and fourteen months apart, son Frankie was born. 

Nona is an actress and singer while Frankie is an artist. After her divorce, she became a single mom and struggled to raise her children, making her do odd jobs.

Net Worth

The net worth of Jan Gaye is not known. As for her former spouse Marvin, he was left with no will at the time of his death. 

His net worth at the time of his death was -$9 million.

Age 

1. Born on the 5th of January 1956, she is 65 years old.