Why Things Didn't Work Out Between Allen Iverson And Da Brat
Shawntae "Da Brat" Harris was "Sittin' on Top of the World" in the '90s. Sales of her 1994 album "Funkdafied" soared, helping her earn the distinction of becoming the first platinum-selling female solo rap artist. But her music career got temporarily derailed in 2008 when she was slapped with a three-year prison sentence for hitting a woman on the head with a bottle at a nightclub. Upon her release, Da Brat told Essence that she learned a valuable lesson: "Not to take anything for granted, because it's the little things that mean the most."
Years later, Da Brat would introduce the world to a special someone whom she certainly wasn't taking for granted, then-girlfriend Jesseca Dupart. Da Brat and Dupart tied the knot in February 2022, and a year later, the rapper announced that she was pregnant — at age 48. She didn't want to carry her and Dupart's child at first, but Dupart had already experienced the joy of childbirth three times herself. "I felt like she should have the experience," Dupart told People. "She is so nurturing." The couple used one of Dupart's eggs and picked an anonymous sperm donor.
However, long before Da Brat connected with her wife, she identified as bisexual. She also had a serious relationship with NBA star Allen Iverson that, unfortunately, ended on a sour note.
Allen Iverson's womanizing spoiled Da Brat's domestic bliss
When she appeared on Kandi Burruss' YouTube series "Speak On It" in 2020, Da Brat shared some rare details about her relationship with Allen Iverson. She dated the Philadelphia 76ers legend in the '90s, and while Iverson told GQ that he admired hip-hop icons including Diddy and the Notorious B.I.G., somehow the flashy NBA star managed to keep his relationship with a massively successful female rapper under wraps. "I'm very domesticated ... I used to wake up and pick his clothes out and cook breakfast," Da Brat said. "The things he liked, just to make sure he was happy. And he spoiled me, and made sure I was happy."
But Da Brat soon realized that Iverson was not the monogamous type, saying, "He had a baby mama, some kids ... It was good for a long time. It just didn't work out. Too many b***hes." The mother of Iverson's kids is Tawanna Turner, whom Iverson dated in high school and later married. They became embroiled in a heated divorce battle in 2012, with TMZ reporting that Turner demanded a list of every woman Iverson had been sexually involved with during their marriage.
According to Da Brat, one of Iverson's scantily-clad women approached the two of them at a hotel, which was too much of an indignity for her to accept. The relationship ended soon after. "[I] just had to pull back and then it eventually fizzled out," she recalled.
Da Brat and Allen Iverson never discussed her then-bisexuality
During their revealing "Speak On It" sit-down, Kandi Burruss asked Da Brat if Allen Iverson was aware that she was bisexual at the time. "I think he knew, but we never talked about it," the rapper said. "I met his whole family and stuff; we never talked about it." Iverson eventually patched things up with his ex-wife, whom he shares five children with. According to GQ, not only were Iverson and Tawanna Turner back together as of January 2023, but Turner had taken on the role of Iverson's manager.
While Da Brat admitted Iverson wasn't her last boyfriend, she eventually went Instagram-official with Jesseca Dupart in March 2020 and came out as gay. Da Brat told Variety that her decision to go public with the relationship was mostly for Dupart's benefit, saying, "When you get with somebody, you have to meet in the middle. So to me, the middle was just letting everybody know: 'Hey, she's the one.'"
The resulting outpouring of love that Da Brat received made her wish that she'd come out sooner, but she explained, "I've always felt like being private is the better way to go because then you don't have so many people in your business."