The Tragic Truth About Teyana Taylor's Life Is So Sad

Teyana Taylor is a singer, songwriter, video director, model, and Academy Award-nominated and now Golden Globe-winning actor. With so many hyphens separating everything that she does, it's easy to assume she has it all. And in many ways, she does. But that doesn't mean it came easy to her. Taylor has experienced hardships in nearly every chapter of her success story, from health setbacks to motherhood obstacles and childhood struggles. For a while, it looked like Taylor's love life would be the exception. But that proved wrong in 2023, when Taylor and Iman Shumpert's marriage fell apart after seven years.

The "One Battle After Another" star and the former NBA player announced their split that September, noting they had been separated for some time. Their divorce was finalized in 2024. Since then, they have been co-parenting their two daughters, Junie and Rue, but the process has been painful along the way. "Divorce, to me, is you're grieving the death of a living being," she told Vanity Fair in January 2026.

It isn't easy to go from being loving partners to fighting in court. After settling their divorce, Taylor and Shumpert both sought to have the other jailed for violating the terms of their agreement. Taylor was later ordered to pay her ex $70,000 for speaking publicly about their divorce, going against the agreement. It hasn't been easy, but then again, she's no stranger to difficulties, so let's take a look at some of the tragic events she has endured. 

Teyana Taylor was raised in Harlem, New York, by a single mother who did what she could to make ends meet. But it wasn't always enough. To help Nikki Taylor put food on the table, Teyana started performing. "The first time I stepped into a booth, I was seven," she told Sing365.com in 2012. "I started singing on the train to make money, just hustling." What started out as necessity evolved into a lifelong habit. "No matter how much money I get, I still gotta grind."

Her and Nikki's reality sometimes created resentment in the young Teyana. She struggled to understand why her mother couldn't spend more time with her. She couldn't fully grasp what her mother went through and the sacrifices she made until she became an adult and a mother herself. One eye-opening moment happened when she played Inez, a mother to a 6-year-old boy, in the film "A Thousand and One" in 2023.

The film took her back to the days when she was that little boy's age. "Those moments when I had those Terry questions: 'Why? ... Why you always working?' You know, not understanding and really all the way appreciating the things that mothers do," she said on the "Tamron Hall Show" in 2023. Growing up amid uncertainty was hard, but it gave her the tools to see an opportunity and grab it with both hands. "I'm from Harlem, I'm a hustler, I'm a grinder. I've always been this little businesswoman," she told The Guardian in 2025.

Teyana Taylor's father was in jail for 13 years of her childhood and adolescence. That meant she had little contact with him, which led to struggles with abandonment issues. But her father's incarceration wasn't the only time she experienced separation from someone she loved. When she was around 12, she lost another father figure to violent crime when Nikki Taylor's then-fiance was murdered. "That s*** just took me down," she said on the "Angie Martinez IRL" podcast in 2023.

Not long after, her father was released from jail, starting another difficult chapter in her complicated journey with father figures. Trying to rebuild a relationship that had barely existed before proved as hard as not having him around. "We just kept clashing," she told Martinez. Her father wanted to have the type of authority in her life that he hadn't earned. "Because it's like, 'You got out thinking you about to tell me how this s*** run,'" she said.

Teyana was devastated that the relationship wasn't working out after spending so many years yearning for a father. "I wanted that figure so bad that, yes, when he got out, I was excited to say, 'Dad,'" she said. Nikki later found love with a man who was able to fulfill that role. From there on after, Teyana had a supportive father figure in Boe Daney (seen above), whom she considers her "pops" and treats as such. "To my mommy and my daddy, it's up for y'all anytime," she said in her Golden Globes speech in January 2026 (via ABC News).

In August 2025, Teyana Taylor faced a health scare that started with pain in her throat. After several medical consultations, doctors found a growth on one of her vocal cords. Luckily, the polyps were noncancerous, but it was affecting her voice and causing significant discomfort. As a result, Taylor had to undergo surgery to have it removed. "Thankfully, we caught it & it's treatable — but it does mean I need to pause and give myself time to fully heal," she wrote in an Instagram Story (via People).

While the surgery was relatively simple and the growth highly treatable, the health setback happened at a crucial time in Taylor's career. Taking time off and focusing on her health was her priority, but she struggled to manage it amid everything she had going on, including the release of her album "Escape Room" and the "One Battle After Another" film. "Just as I was getting ready to finally share this with you, life handed me my own unexpected 'escape room,'" she continued.

The timing hurt the album, she believes, because she had to cancel several performances. "But it was either I get [surgery] at that time or don't get it at all. Then I wouldn't be able to go on tour next year," she said ahead of a mini performance in October 2025 (via Billboard). Yes, Taylor was back onstage just two and a half months later. "I haven't sung since surgery. I haven't even done my little vocal therapy," she warned the audience.

In 2021, Teyana Taylor had to be hospitalized during "The Last Rose Petal Farewell Tour" that November. In a since-deleted Instagram post (via People), Taylor revealed that she fainted before walking onto the stage while performing in Connecticut. "I tried everything down to the very last second to get me out on that stage, but my body simply just gave out, which actually started a few days ago," she wrote. She expressed frustration at having to cancel the Mashantucket show. "My body actually low key betrayed me cause ah b***h was tryna get on that stage," she continued.

However, she used the opportunity to discuss the importance of paying attention to one's body. "[It's important to] know when to sit down; or it will definitely sit you down..... in the ER. Mine sat my a** down in the ER for sure," she wrote. But she put her fans' minds at ease, sharing that she was nearly back to her old self. "I've since got the proper fluids and nutrients put back into my body," she wrote, noting she would take the next several days to recover fully.

Fans knew Taylor's hospitalization must have been really needed, given that she doesn't cancel shows for no reason — or even for good reasons. In 2017, she put on an energetic performance at the VH1 Hip Hop Honors: The 90s Game Changers with a broken foot, displaying her commitment to her work and fans. "Y'all have seen me with a broken foot and all types of other crazy s***," she reminded them.

Teyana Taylor ranks motherhood above all other achievements, but becoming a mother wasn't an easy journey. During both of her pregnancies, Taylor developed cholestasis, a serious condition of the liver that causes a buildup of bile in the bloodstream. Cholestasis comes with several risks, particularly for the babies, who are at an increased risk of being born premature, developing lung problems, or being stillborn. Taylor experienced the first of those complications, going into labor a month early both times.

Her first birth was particularly scary. Taylor hadn't realized she was in labor until she felt Junie's head. Her then-husband, Iman Shumpert, called 911, but there was no time. Junie was born in the couple's bathroom just like that on December 16, 2015. They were both terrified, but luckily everything worked out. "She entered this world into his bare hands!" Taylor captioned an Instagram post in which the star shared her intimate childbirth story. A similar scenario played out with Rue on September 6, 2020.

This time, Taylor and Shumpert planned for a home birth with a doula (who was none other than Erykah Badu), but once again, time played against them. "She was on the phone guiding me through the contractions and everything. It was a wild experience," Taylor told CR Fashion Book. Just months later, her doctor discovered lumps in her breasts, sparking cancer concerns. After a complicated surgery, the growths came back noncancerous. Taylor believes the lumps were another complication related to childbirth, which made her see how lucky she had been. "If I was to have a third one, what would happen?" she wondered on "We Got Love" in 2021.