“People see the fame and assume everything is perfect,” said Dawn Robinson, explaining why she’s chosen to live in her car
Life can take unexpected turns—something former En Vogue member Dawn Robinson knows all too well. The founding member of the iconic 90s R&B group recently opened up in a YouTube video about how her journey since reaching stardom took an unforeseen shift over the past few years.
“For the past almost three years, I’ve been living in my car,” she revealed, explaining that in 2020, rising tensions with her mother forced her to move out of her parents’ home in Las Vegas. After spending a month living in her car there, her then-co-manager suggested she relocate to Los Angeles, assuring her she could stay with him until she found a permanent place.
However, when Robinson arrived, she was surprised to learn he had no space for her. Instead, he offered to cover a hotel stay, which ended up lasting nearly eight months. Though he was footing the bill, she recalled feeling constant stress over the costs. Despite her efforts to find an affordable apartment, he reportedly dismissed all of her suggestions, leaving her stuck.
“I think you guys, people want to trap you and keep you in a situation where you’re vulnerable and depending on them,” she told her YouTube viewers. “And I wasn’t the one, so yeah, I got out of there.”
Determined to regain control of her situation, Robinson took matters into her own hands.
“I told my assistant one day, ‘I have been researching car life,’ and there’s a whole community of people that live in their cars… their RVs… vans,” she explained. “I loved what I was seeing, and I just thought, ‘Wow, if these people could do that, I could do this… I think.’ And so I ended up in my car, and it’s been, like I said, three years.”
Despite the challenges, Robinson remains in good spirits, embracing this chapter of her life and the healing that’s come with it.
“This is not like ‘Oh my God, poor Dawn, she’s living in her car,’” she clarified. “It’s not like that. I’m learning about who I am. I’m learning myself as a person, as a woman. I think if you had said to me while I was in En Vogue, ‘You’re going to be living in your car one day,’ I would have been like, ‘Uh no, I’m always going to have an apartment. I can’t live in my car.’ We say that we can’t do certain things before we even know we’re capable.”
“I’m glad that I made this choice because I needed to go through this fire… through this period of isolation. […] I wouldn’t trade any of what I’ve gone through for anything. I miss my family, but I’m proud of me. I’d rather be on my own right now and see my family when it’s time and when things change,” she concluded.
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