Everyone knows that R&B superstar The-Dream was married, and now divorced, from singer Nivea. While he’s been somewhat coy when talking about their split, Nivea has spoken more candidly, recently opening up in an interview conducted last year.
The-Dream, however, showed up to Angela Yee’s Lip Service radio show this week, where he was questioned about the relationship, and explained his side of why the couple broke up.
Dream says that at some point during his relationship with Nivea, things changed. As his popularity grew, he admitted that he became bitter that his singer/wife wasn’t matching his status. While he says it’s not the only reason, he says contributed to their split.
“When you’re no longer able to have a certain type of fun with your partner and it turns into a relationship where you’re kinda like trying to get them … get a certain thing or understand something … You start to get bitter, and you don’t wanna be that,” Dream says. “That’s what happened in my relationship when I was married. I just … I ended it. That’s when I decided to end it because I didn’t wanna take this good person and treat them a certain way based off what I was changing into.”
The couple got together in 2003, and within a year, they were married. Although he admits that he and Nivea were very much in love, love isn’t the only thing that can hold it together. He doesn’t have any regrets, but he says if he had guidance from his parents (his mother died when he was young and he was raised by his grandfather) he could have possibly avoided the entire situation.
“I was definitely in love with this particular person. I was in love at that particular time,” Dream tells Lip Service. “When you grow up without being in that type of environment, as far as a family, we’re not taught that how much more than love does it take to run a relationship. Like ’cause love isn’t where it’s going to end. It can’t just start and stop with love. There has to be something else. There has to be a certain amount of knowledge and patience that’s acquired in order to keep it going, and keep it straight. I found out the hard way.
“I figure if I probably had parents around, I’d probably been able to see certain things, and kinda just make sure that it was what it was, instead of jumping in,” he continued.
In 2007, The-Dream filed for divorce, and has since shot to the top of the charts with the success of his debut album Love/Hate, and his recently released follow-up Love vs. Money.
As of late, Dream has been spotted all over the globe with singer Christina Milian, sparking rumors that he and Milian are an item. To date, both Dream and Milian have yet to admit that they’re dating, instead calling their relationship strictly business.
During Angela Yee’s interview with Dream, he stayed consistent. “She’s signed to Radio Killa Records. I’m just trying to run a good ole’ wholesome business over there, at Radio Killa Records dot com,” he said with a grin.
“I’m not answering that,” when asked directly if there was a personal relationship with Christina Milian.
He did, however, explain how they came to work together. While looking for a female to jump on the remix to his single “Rockin’ That,” he says Milian came to mind.
“We was brainstorming over remixes for ‘Rockin That,’ and I was about do the video. I was like ‘I wanna put a female on this, and just let her come in the video and just kill it.’ It was B, C, and I was like ‘Let’s go with the underdog,’ ” Dream said.
The-Dream is currently making his rounds, doing promo for his sophomore album, Love vs. Money, which is in stores now.
