Rohan Marley On Having 12 Children: “I’m A Product Of My Environment”
While some may scrutinize Rohan Marley for having 12 children, the former linebacker says his expansive tribe was both a result of several failed relationships and a mirror of what he saw growing up.
“I love them (my children) so much, all of them, and they love each other because I was raised this way,” Rohan, 51, recently said on the Drink Champs podcast.
“Also, I’m a product of my environment because, you know, growing up certain way, you’ll just have ‘this way’, but then when you get older, you realise maybe it’s time to be like Ziggy or Cedella where you just kinda settle down and live life where you don’t have to worry about things.”
His late father, reggae legend Bob Marley, acknowledged 11 children. He had three with his wife Rita Marley—Cedella, Ziggy, and Stephen—and adopted her daughters Sharon and Stephanie from previous relationships. Outside his marriage, he also fathered Robbie, Rohan, Karen, Julian, Ky-Mani, and Damian—all of whom have different mothers.
Rohan praised his brother Ziggy, who has seven children, and his sister Cedella, mother of three, for balancing their personal lives while being integral figures in the running of and success of the Marley brand.
He said that though being a parent to a dozen children is manageable, it has opened him up to relationship conflicts.
“I wanna live a life full of trust and just peaceful, where my woman can take my phone and do whatever… You get to focus on other things.”
Rohan’s 12 children include the two he had with his first wife, Geraldine Khawly, before their 1996 divorce. He then fathered five children, including singer YG Marley, with Hip-Hop/R&B singer Lauryn Hill during a “spiritual marriage” from 1996 to 2009. He also has one child with Brazilian model Barbara Fialho; they were married in 2019 and divorced in 2020. His eldest child is a tricenarian, while his youngest will turn two in March.
Drink Champs co-host DJ EFN was appalled by the high count, and asked Rohan if having multiple children was the “Rastafarian way”.
“Is not really the Rastafari way to procreate,” he responded.
“I mean, I think it’s everyone’s way… As a human being, I have a girlfriend or a woman that I consider I might be with this woman for a long time. So, we’re naturally having intercourse, and if you have intercourse over a period of time, a lot of times, naturally, there’s gonna have certain results and they’re gonna be positive – you’ll have a child. So, over a certain period of time, it just happens that you have children with the woman you’re with.”
Until the union fails, and he starts over with another woman.
“You think this woman is the woman you wanna be with and the person along the way changes their ways or you change your ways towards this person, so, it doesn’t work out. So, you end up being with someone else, then have another child and then it doesn’t work out and you end up being with someone else and you have another child, and it doesn’t work out, and it just happens to not work out some of the times.”
Rejecting DJ EFN’s statement that he is “out of control,” Rohan joked that his fertile potency is linked to his diet.
“I can produce man, I’m a productive guy,” he said. “But now, I’m very settled in life and I find the right person for me and I’m moving on like that, so it’s good… I feel like I have a lot of children that I need now to build them, build their characters, build leaders and have my own little army.”
Plus, his current relationship with Cuban-American model Maytee Martinez keeps him on track.
“Now, I’m more disciplined. My Cuban girlfriend ain’t playing that… She love my children. She give me that respect…but to do that, you have to be a father and you have to be committed to your children and you have to know that it’s your responsibility as a man.”
Marley and his company, Shashamane Group, are currently facing a sexual harassment and hostile work environment lawsuit filed by the company’s former CEO, Chloe Villano. She has claimed that during her employment between March 2021 and March 2022, Marley, among other things, demanded her sexual exclusivity and that “he be allowed to impregnate” her in exchange for her stake in the company.
In January, a federal judge in California ruled that Villano’s complaint could proceed to trial.
Watch Rohan Marley’s full Drink Champs sit-down below.