Tuesday, May 18, 2004
No Marley, No Cry
From Jet magazine of April 19, African-American magazine for the hard of thinking.
Reggae singer Rita Marley, widow of international reggae legend Bob Marley, told a newspaper in Britain that her famous husband once raped her. While promoting her upcoming memoir, No Woman, No Cry, Rita told Britain's Daily Mirror that she once denied her husband sex because she was fed up with his many years of infidelity. “Bob wouldn't take no for an answer,” she told the newspaper of that day in 1973. “He said to me, ‘No, you're my wife and you're supposed to.’ So he forced himself on me, and I call that rape. Afterwards I felt so terrible. I screamed at him, ‘I hate you. I hate you!’”
She said that in spite of her husband's years of cheating with women who bore many of his children, she still reveres him. “Just because he did these things and cheated on me doesn't mean he was a bad husband,” she said. “He always provided for me, always gave me anything I wanted.” Bob Marley died of cancer in 1981 at the age of 36. Rita was by his side, holding him in her arms, when he made his transition.
Today, now a singer in her own right, Rita takes care of the Bob Marley Foundation in Jamaica. She also runs her own charity that works with poor children in Ghana, West Africa.
Made his transition? Ah yes; from locally recognized Reggae musician to best-selling international pop icon.
Reggae singer Rita Marley, widow of international reggae legend Bob Marley, told a newspaper in Britain that her famous husband once raped her. While promoting her upcoming memoir, No Woman, No Cry, Rita told Britain's Daily Mirror that she once denied her husband sex because she was fed up with his many years of infidelity. “Bob wouldn't take no for an answer,” she told the newspaper of that day in 1973. “He said to me, ‘No, you're my wife and you're supposed to.’ So he forced himself on me, and I call that rape. Afterwards I felt so terrible. I screamed at him, ‘I hate you. I hate you!’”
She said that in spite of her husband's years of cheating with women who bore many of his children, she still reveres him. “Just because he did these things and cheated on me doesn't mean he was a bad husband,” she said. “He always provided for me, always gave me anything I wanted.” Bob Marley died of cancer in 1981 at the age of 36. Rita was by his side, holding him in her arms, when he made his transition.
Today, now a singer in her own right, Rita takes care of the Bob Marley Foundation in Jamaica. She also runs her own charity that works with poor children in Ghana, West Africa.
Made his transition? Ah yes; from locally recognized Reggae musician to best-selling international pop icon.
