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En Vogue Alum Dawn Robinson Says She's Been Living in Her Car for Past 3 Years
Dawn Robinson is freeing her mind to the conventional idea of a home.
The En Vogue alum—who founded the iconic girl group alongside Terry Ellis, Cindy Herron and Maxine Jones in the late '80s—shared a rare update about her life, revealing she's been living in her car for the past three years.
"When I first started this channel, I knew that I was going to talk about this," Dawn began in a March 11 YouTube video, noting how several people in her life have warned her not to speak about her living situation due to her "celebrity" status. "It's real and it’s OK."
Explaining how "part of being human is to be vulnerable," she continued with a deep sigh, "For the past three—almost three years—I have been living in my car."
The 58-year-old continued with a laugh, "I said it! Oh my god, it's out!"
Dawn went on to share how her journey began in 2020, when she decided to move out of her parent's Las Vegas home after experiencing some tension with her mom.
"That was wonderful until it wasn't," she recounted. "I love my mom, but she became very angry. A lot of her anger she was taken out on me."
Dawn—who exited En Vogue in 1997, but returned to the group in 2002 before leaving again in 2008—said she was living out of her car in Vegas for "about a month" before her manager at the time offered to take her in at his Los Angeles apartment.
However, the place ended up being too crowded with both of them and their respective dogs, so Dawn moved into a hotel while she looked for a more permanent home around L.A.
As she put it, "That one night turned into eight months."
Vallery Jean/FilmMagic
Eventually, Dawn said she started looking into "van life, car life, RV life" after failing to find an acceptable living space.
"I loved what I was seeing," she continued. "I just thought, 'I could do that.'"
Dawn said she moved out of the hotel in March 2022 and spent her first night in Malibu, Calif. Though she initially thought it was "scary" to sleep in her car, she quickly learned how to adjust to her new environment—including installing insulation and blacking out her windows.
"It just felt like the right thing to do," she shared of her decision. "I didn't regret it."
Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images
In fact, Dawn feels "proud" to be living in her car.
"It's an adventure," she said. "I'm in the trenches of this right now, and I wouldn't trade my experiences and what I've gone through for the world."
Dawn added, "My aim is to inspire and let people know that you’re capable of anything no matter what the odds are against you."
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