Well, well, well. This is an interesting turn of events. After wild speculation about the state of Lauryn Hill and Rohan Marley’s relationship, Mr. Lauryn has decided to set the record straight. And by “straight” I mean “I still have questions, but I’ll hold my tongue for the moment.” A few months ago. Lauryn announced that she was pregnant for the sixth time. Rohan, who is the baby-daddy of Lauryn’s first five children, seemed to be rejecting the idea that he was this child’s father. Over the weekend, Lauryn gave birth, and almost at the same time, Rohan went public with his new relationship – he’s dating a 28-year-old Brazilian model, Isabeli Fontani. It seemed like Rohan was being a d-bag, denying paternity on his kid, dumping his baby-mama and then hooking up with some young chick. But Ms. Lauryn wants us to know that’s not the situation:

“Mr. Marley and I have a long and complex history about which MANY inaccuracies have been reported since the beginning. To speculate without the facts can only cause people to form WRONG conclusions. We both value privacy and for that reason defend and preserve our right to it… Contrary to the numerous reports, Mr. Marley did not abandon me while pregnant with his child. We have had long periods of separation over the years but our 5 children together remain a joy to both of us. Thank you for your concern and I appreciate all of the well wishes regarding the birth of my new son.”

[From Lauryn’s website]

Okay… the relevant part is “Mr. Marley did not abandon me while pregnant with his child. We have had long periods of separation over the years but our 5 children together remain a joy to both of us.” I feel like it’s a riddle. I feel like Lauryn could have just said, “Rohan is not the father of this baby, y’all.” Instead, she takes pains to let us know that Rohan didn’t abandon her while she was pregnant… which could mean she abandoned him? Eh. The easy answer is that Rohan is not the father, and that he and Lauryn split up sometime around the time when Lauryn got pregnant by another dude. But it feels like she’s talking around something, right?

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Back in the end of May/beginning of June, a quiet little storm erupted around Lauryn Hill. She announced that she was pregnant yet again, for the SIXTH time. Many assumed that the baby-daddy of this child was the same as the others, namely Rohan Marley, son of Bob Marley. Rohan’s personal life is even more of a mystery than Lauryn’s, though, and some commenters have pointed out that for all of this time, he’s been technically and legally married to Geraldine Khawly, who he met when he was in college. He and Geraldine have two children. In addition to being married to Geraldine, and being baby-daddy and boyfriend to Lauryn (although Lauryn has referred to him as her husband too…?), Rohan has always identified himself as “single” on his MySpace. So, a gem of a guy.

Anyway, the controversy back two months ago was that Rohan seemed to be kinda/sorta denying paternity for Lauryn’s sixth pregnancy. Some claimed he was denying paternity, but I thought he was just kind of being a dick to a Hip Hop Wired journalist on Twitter – go here to read my previous article. Now there’s a new scandal brewing.

Lauryn just gave birth. Nearly at the same time, Rohan seemingly went public with his new relationship. It seems he’s dating Isabeli Fontana, a Brazilian model, probably best known for her work on multiple Victoria’s Secret campaigns.

Lauryn Hill may finally have material for that long-awaited album. The singer, 36, has reportedly been dumped by the father of her five children, Rohan Marley — and she’s pregnant with their sixth.

According to Media Take Out, Marley, the fourth son of reggae singer Bob Marley, left Hill for Brazilian model, Isabeli Fontana.

Just last week, the 28-year-old posted a photo of her and Marley on her Twitter page and wrote, “I’m in love with @Romarley’s heart.”

After the report that he replaced Hill with Fontana, Marley, 39, also took to Twitter to defend himself, although he didn’t exactly deny the split.

“Ms. Hill is the mother of my children, whom I have a tremendous amount of love and respect for,” he wrote on Saturday. “I would never do that.”

In a follow-up tweet, he added, “The nature of our relationship something we don’t expect people who spread gossip for a living to fully understand.”

Hill and Marley first got together in 1996 — when he was already married with two kids.

Fontana, who has modeled for Victoria’s Secret, Versace and Valentino, is twice-divorced and has a son from each marriage.

[From The NYDN]

Even as that report was published, it seems that Lauryn had already given birth, and that all of the junk on Twitter was pretty much happening simultaneously. Rohan later wrote on Twitter, “I’m forwarding all well wishes to Ms. Hill on the birth of her new son. I’m sure she’ll appreciate the love being sent to her RASTAFARI R.M.” On the birth of HER new son? Meaning he still doesn’t acknowledge the son as his? Ugh. Also, Rohan seems to be threatening lawsuits if media outlets don’t get their facts straight, which is weird because NO ONE CAN FIGURE ANYTHING OUT. No one knows if he’s still married to his first wife, if he and Lauryn are still technically together, if he’s known to be with a Brazilian model, nothing.

By the way, if you’d like to see some of the funky photos Isabeli was tweeting of she and Rohan, you can catch her Twitter feed here.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

A few days ago, Lauryn Hill announced she was pregnant with her sixth child, in concert and over Twitter. It was interesting, I thought, but I didn’t really think about it too hard. I used to love Lauryn, but over the past several years, I’ve stopped paying attention to her, mostly because I don’t want to even begin to decipher her political messages and lyrics. She’s exhausting. Anyway, most people assumed that Lauryn’s current pregnancy was done by the same baby-daddy who’d knocked her up four or five other times, her boyfriend/lover/baby-daddy-dude Rohan Marley. Not so much, according to Rohan Marley.

It went down like this: Rohan is on Twitter. He corrected a Hip Hop Wired story which claimed that he and Lauryn were married and expecting another baby – Rohan wrote “’2 things… I’m not married and I don’t have anyone expecting anything.”

A journalist than tweeted back, “So we are clear. 1.) You’re not married to your ex-wife or Lauryn, and 2.) She isn’t preggo w/your child, but someone else’s?”

Rohan Marley: “That is correct until I say out of my mouth to the contrary.”

Journalist: “Ok. I’ll take it. But you do realize that the ‘until I say something contrary’ addendum cast doubt on your statement.”

Rohan Marley: “trust me, the info out there is so incorrect for so many years…Thx for twitter. I check a few things.”

[Via The Mail]

Now… here’s the thing: the way I read this, I don’t think Rohan is denying paternity. I think he’s just being a d-bag to the press. Like, he didn’t want people to get all up in his business and he wanted to make a point about journalists and fact-checking. That’s just how I read it. But sure, maybe he’s saying he’s not the father. That’s interesting.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

She was one of the most popular voices of the ’90s, as the lead singer of The Fugees and then as a solo artist, but Lauryn Hill made a sudden, unexplained departure from the music industry for over a decade. Now, Hill is making tentative steps toward a comeback, including a few live concert dates and even some media interviews. The notoriously reclusive singer says the time off was largely dedicated to raising her five children and to taking care of herself after several years of touring, recording, and living a very high profile life.

Lauryn Hill is back — sort of.

Celebrated for her work with the Fugees and her classic solo album “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” the Grammy-winning hip-hop/R&B artist has barely been seen or heard since 1999. (Despite universal accolades, she only released one album after 1998′s “Miseducation”: 2002′s “MTV Unplugged.”) Some wondered whether the erratic artist — who demands to be addressed as “Ms. Hill” — had a nervous breakdown.

But Hill, now 35, finally explained her mysterious absence to National Public Radio’s Zoe Chace, who scored a interview with the artist following a rare performance in Santa Rosa, Calif.

Why did she stop recording? “There were a number of different reasons,” she explains.

“But partly, the support system that I needed was not necessarily in place. There were things about myself, personal-growth things, that I had to go through in order to feel like it was worth it.”

The platinum-selling star also takes aim at the music industry, suggesting it didn’t nurture her with enough care or patience: “Oftentimes,” Hill says, “the machine can overlook the need to take care of the people who produce the sounds that have a lot to do with the health and well-being of society. … And it’s important that people be given the time that they need to go through, to grow, so that the consciousness level of the general public is properly affected.”

Not that Hill hasn’t kept herself busy the past 11 years.

“I don’t know if you know this, but I have five children,” she tells NPR. Her children’s dad is Hill’s longtime love, Rohan Marley, son of the late reggae legend Bob Marley.

“The youngest is 2 now, so she’s old enough that I can leave her for a period of time and know she’s going to be okay.”

“I think it’s just time,” to start performing again, she adds.

“I’m starting to get excited again. Believe it or not, I think what people are attracted to about me, if anything, is my passion. People got exposed to my passion through music and song first. … And I think that can be infectious.”

[From MSNBC]

I would love to see Lauryn put out a new album- her unique R&B/soul voice would be a welcome breath of fresh air in the world of auto-tuned teen-bots. Hopefully, she is in a better place mentally than when she first hit the big time. She performed a few scattered concerts back in 2007 that were rough – her voice and demeanor were off. Maybe the time off has helped. I think the music industry is tough for people who don’t want to be “handled” by record executives and managers – and Lauryn has never been one to sit back and do what she’s told. But I say, welcome back!

Header: Lauryn performing with the Fugees in 2005.