The former 1990s singer shared what led to her homelessness in a YouTube video.
Dawn Robinson, a founding member of the 1990s R&B group En Vogue, reveals that she is homeless and embraced “car life” after dealing with her personal struggles over the years.
“Everyone, for the past three years, almost three years, I’ve lived in a car. …I said that. Ah, my god, it’s out,” she said with an ah relief sigh.
The singer said that after first living with her parents in Las Vegas in 2020, she was in conflict with her mother and decided to move in.
At the suggestion of her former co-manager, she moved to Los Angeles. He had offered her to be with him, but instead arranged for her to stay at the hotel.
Robinson spent eight months at a hotel, struggling to find an apartment, and in the process began his research into “automatic life,” before heading to Malibu, California in 2022 to begin a leap of faith.
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“This whole community of people who live in their cars… in their RVs, and the whole community of people who live in vans. … And I loved what I was seeing. I just thought, wow, these people, I could do that,” she said.
“I felt free. It was the sense of freedom I had. …I felt like I was on a camping trip.”
En Vogue is considered one of the world’s best-selling girls groups, with chart-topping hits, including “Hold On,” “Free Your Mind,” and six Grammy Award nominations.
Robinson, who reached peak stardom with the group at one point, said she felt compelled to share her current story, not sympathy, but in the hopes of inspiring others in difficult situations.
“People say, ‘You shouldn’t talk about it, you’re a celebrity, and what if they judge you?’ So what? What if they judge me? Life is life. …Part of being human is vulnerable,” she said.
“I’m learning who I am as a person and as a woman,” she continued. “We say we can’t do certain things before we know we are capable. …I’m happy that we made this choice because we had to go through this fire.”
Formed in 1989, En Vogue featured Robinson along with Cindy Herron, Terry Ellis and Maxine Jones. Robinson left the group in 1997.
She released her solo album “Dawn” in 2002 and returned to En Vogue in 2005 and 2009 for a brief stint.
