If you’ve been watching Growing Up Hip Hop, then you already know that there’s trouble brewing between Damon Dash and ex-wife, Rachel Roy.
The issue stems from custody over the couple’s two daughters, Tallulah and Ava.
We’ve heard Damon Dash’s version of events throughout episodes of GUHH, but we don’t seem to know much about Rachel Roy. So who is she?
42-year old Roy is a major fashion mogul
Rachel grew up in Seaside, California, with both her parents and a brother. Her mother is American but of Dutch descent while her father was born in Madras.
She was raised as a Seventh Day Adventist and attended the Washington Adventist University in Maryland before moving to New York.
There she worked as a wardrobe stylist before interning at the fashion label, Rocawear. Roy eventually rose up the ranks to become Creative Director of the womenswear division.
During her stint at Rocawear, Rachel met her now ex-husband Damon Dash, who was co-owner of the brand along with Rapper, Jay Z.
The couple married in 2005 and stayed together for five years. They had two daughters, Tallulah and Ava, before getting divorced in 2009.
In 2004, Rachel launched her eponymous fashion line, which has now become a globally recognized brand, sold in stores such as Nordstrom, Lord and Taylor, and Macy’s.
In 2018, Rachel was named a United Nations Women Champion for Innovation and received several honors for her contributions to the fashion industry.
She has authored two books, Design Your Life and 96 Words for Love, a young adult novel she co-wrote with her eldest daughter, Ava.
Contentious Court Battle with Damon Dash
The mom of two has been in the news due to the contentious custody battle between her and Dash. In 2015 Rachel was awarded sole custody of Tallulah and Ava, while Damon received limited visitation rights.
The two continued to engage in a bitter war of words, and a judge later granted Rachel and her daughters a restraining order against Damon.
In 2016 Rachel was in the news once again.
This time the fashion designer was in trouble with the Beehive, who assumed her to be ‘Becky with the good hair” mentioned in Beyonce’s song, ‘Sorry.’
The track referenced infidelity in a relationship that fans assumed to be Beyonce and Jay Z.
In one part of the song, Beyonce said, ” You better call Becky with the good hair,” and fans started to speculate that ‘Becky’ was Rachel Roy, due to her previous relationship with Jay Z during her time at Rocawear.
Roy added fuel to the fire with an Instagram post of herself smiling with the quote, “Good hair don’t care, but we will take good lighting, for selfies, or self truths, always. Live in the light #nodramaqueens.”
Of course, the beehive had no mercy and swarmed her page with disparaging comments in defense of Queen Bey. Roy had to eventually ‘private’ her social media pages and even canceled a few appearances amidst the drama.
These days, the only drama in Rachel’s life is the ongoing battle between her and Dash.
Nonetheless, the talented fashion designer seems to be taking it all in stride; her Instagram page is splattered with images of a constantly smiling Rachel and her girls clad in garbs from her successful fashion line.