In his lifetime, celebrated American musician and Godfather of Soul, James Brown got married four times. His second wife was Deidre Jenkins. On her own, Deidre was not famous until she got married to the musician and even though the marriage only lasted slightly more than 10 years, her name is still being mentioned in relation to the union.
Jenkins and James Brown had two children between them before they parted ways. Here is all to know about her and her love life to the musician.
She Married James Brown After His First Marriage
Before the paths of Deidre Jenkins and James Brown crossed, the Godfather of Soul was first married to another woman, Velma Warren Brown on June 27, 1953. The marriage lasted for 17 years and produced 3 children before it ended in a rather controversial manner in 1969.
While the marriage was believed to have ended legally n divorce, Velma would claim many years later after the death of Brown in 2006, that the singer never divorced her legally. Although according to reports a divorce was granted in 1969 by an attorney Velma insisted they only separated even though she went on to get married again.
After Brown’s first marriage, he got married a second time to Deidre Jenkins in 1970. While it was the first marriage for her, it was the second for the singer, as stated. Also referred to as Dee Dee Brown, she remained married to the singer for 10 years, and then in 1981, they parted ways.
Jenkins and James Brown Had Two Children Between Them
Dee Dee Brown and James had two children between them; Yamma Brown and Deanna Brown Thomas. That said, James Brown had many other children from his other marriages and relationships.
Her first child is Deanna Brown
Thomas Deanna Brown Thomas is the first child of DeeDee and James Brown. She was born in 1969 in New York. A Composer, Deanna is also a media personality and actress. She is also an entrepreneur and a humanitarian.
She has been married to Shawn Thomas, a restaurant owner, for more than 20 years and they are blessed with children.
Yamma Brown is the second child of Deidre Jenkins
Born in 1972, Yamma Brown is the younger of Dee Dee’s Kids. She is a clinical pharmacist, a writer, an entrepreneur, and also an activist. Yamma is the vice president of the James Brown Family Foundation.
In 1996, The path of Yamma crossed with that of a man named Darren-Anthony Lumar. Before long, they became an item, and then in 1999, they became man and wife. Although they had children together including a daughter named Sydney, the marriage came to an end in 2005, they reconciled after only 18 days. Darren’s name was linked to everything from falsehood to sexual misconduct, and fraud. He was murdered in 2008.
Apart from these two, James Brown has many other children including LaRhonda Pettit, Teddy Brown, James Joseph Brown II, Venisha Brown, Daryl Brown, Lisa Brown, Larry Brown, and Terry Brown.
The Marriage Was Marred By Domestic Abuse
Even though Deidre Jenkins and James Brown remained married for more than 10 years, the union was not without its man issues. At the center of the issues was the domestic abuse that Diedre endured until she decided to end the union.
In Yamma’s book, Cold Sweat: My Father James Brown and Me, she detailed how her father abused her mother all through their marriage. The godfather of soul would hit his wife on slight provocation and this affected his daughters even though they were always in a different room from where the abuse happened. Yamma revealed that it was once that she saw her mother beating pounced upon by her father. Although she was a little girl, she tried to get him to stop but it was not successful.
After many years of enduring the abuse, Diedre decided she was done with the marriage and that was when she divorced the legendary singer. On her part, Yamma stated that although her father never laid hands on her and her sister, she also suffered from abuse at the hands of her husband.
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Life After Divorce For Deidre Jenkins And James Brown
Since the end of her union, Dee Dee has not tied the knot again. This is different from James Brown who got married again to Adrienne Rodriguez in 1984. They remained together until 1996 when Adrienne lost her life after she was recuperating from plastic surgery. There are, however, speculations that she was possibly murdered just as it was suspected that Brown was also murdered many years later.
In 2001, Brown got married to Tomi Rae Brown even though this marriage would become a topic of controversy after the death of the singer. This is because she was previously married to a Pakistani, Javed Ahmed. Even though she insisted that the marriage had since been annulled, there was never a court document to indicate that it was annulled.
