Bob Marley’s son Rohan Marley and superstar Lauryn Hill are speaking out after their daughter shared traumatic childhood stories on social media.
During a two-hour Instagram video, Hill and Marley’s 21-year-old daughter Selah Marley opened up about her troubled upbringing and how she overcame her childhood trauma. One of the topics of conversation revolved around her having issues after her father left. “I have a form of split personality to some degree, I mean not to like you know diagnose myself, but just a form of split because it’s like, a part of me stopped growing at the age that my dad left,” said Selah.
“I feel like something just stopped, or maybe it never grew, it never developed, …especially when it comes to men, like males in my life. They bring out this dark, dark, dark thing inside of me because I feel like I need them…like I hurt them because I’m mad at them because I’m mad at my father for not being around, but I need them because I don’t have a father, so I need someone,” she continued.
Following her IG videos, Marley decided to speak on some of his daughter’s words. “Selah’s expression on Instagram is a healing process for her. I’m very happy that she is fearless in her expression. I love her very much and do apologize for any contributions I may have added by arguing in front of her as a child. I’ve grown as a man, a spiritual being, and a father. I am constantly growing and will teach my children to always take the higher road in any disagreements. I will be there for her no matter how many hours, days, months, or years it will take. I will be the best Dad that I can be. One Love.”
Selah later shared that she was in no way trying to insult her parents. “I never said that I did not love them. I said their shortcomings created trauma that I now need to consciously and actively heal from.” Not only did Selah say she struggled with her relationship with her Dad, but she also said that her mother was “very angry” and “not easy to talk to.” While she did say Hill is an “amazing woman,” she claimed that she would also “spank us to no avail.” “That’s that slave sh*t. That was some slavery sh*t. All Black parents were on that sh*t,” Selah said, according to Hot New Hip Hop, per Global Grind.
But Hill also came to her daughter’s defense, saying Selah has a right to express herself. “My life has been about protecting my children from all kinds of danger, and that’s only possible when you protect yourself from the danger as well,” said Hill. “We’re both learning and healing, and each of my children has a similar story and journey—all of you in a rush to crucify someone, careful who you string up or nail up. You might have an extremely limited view of the actual reality,” she continued. “We all hate abuse and exploitation, sometimes in an effort to fight against it, we can easily become the abuser, the exploiter, and THIS is what we have to watch for. No one is exempt from needing to watch themselves in this way.”
