Bob Marley’s Ex-Mistress Cindy Breakspeare Sparks Controversy After Sharing Heartfelt Birthday Post To Late Singer: ‘[She] Will Never Let [Him] Go… Even In Death’

February 8, 2024 by Ashley Blackwell in Music with 0 Comments

Bob Marley’s Ex-Mistress Cindy Breakspeare Sparks Controversy After Sharing Heartfelt Birthday Post To Late Singer: ‘[She] Will Never Let [Him] Go… Even In Death’

It’s no secret that Bob Marley loved many women… and many women loved him.

As you may know, earlier this week marked (what would’ve been) the 79th birthday of Jamaican icon Bob Marley.

Bob Marley

After being diagnosed with skin cancer (melanoma) in 1977, unfortunately, Bob Marley passed away in 1981. The aggressive condition had reportedly spread to the musician’s lungs and brain, resulting in his death at the tender age of 36.

Over four decades after his demise, on Tuesday (Feb. 6), the ‘Uprising’ artist’s former girlfriend, fellow singer Cindy Breakspeare, took to Instagram to honor the late legend on his special day.

In her now-controversial post, which has the commenting feature turned off, Cindy Breakspeare wrote under the carousel of throwback photos,

“Bob, on what would have been your 79th Birthday, I celebrate the incredible impact you’ve had globally, cherish our amazing son Damian, and reminisce about the beautiful times we shared–from 56 Hope Road to your mother’s home in Delaware and Miami, New York, Oakley Street in London, The Bahamas, Trinidad, and beyond.”

She furthered in the caption:

“The memories are countless, but our love for you is endless. Happy Birthday to the people’s hero, loved and revered by all.”

Following Cindy Breakspeare’s emotional message, the public flooded the internet with opinions. While some welcomed the idea of the ‘Miss World 1976’ winner remembering Marley, others were taken aback by her candid expression of their taboo relationship.

If you didn’t know, it’s long been known that Marley wedded songstress Rita Marley (also a member of his backup vocalist trio, the I Threes) in 1966. The couple remained married up until his death and shared three children.

However, during that time, it was noted that Marley led extra-marital affairs with quite a few women, including his most infamous one with Breakspeare.

Marley and Breakspeare’s (who parented one child together, Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley) complicated romance is said to be documented in the forthcoming release of his biopic, titled ‘Bob Marley: One Love.’ The film will debut on February 14.

Cindy Breakspeare

But… although the recent deep-dive into Marley’s infidelity may come as a surprise to the world, his wife, Rita, actually spoke of her knowledge of relations in previous interviews.

In a sit-down, she once recalled her disapproval of Marley trying to get her to sing background for “Turn Your Lights Down Low,” a song he penned for Breakspeare.

She said in a dug-up clip,

“In London, I can remember we had this ‘Exodus’ album and he was doing this song that I found that he wrote about Cindy [Breakspeare].”

Rita added:

“I’m saying, ‘What? You [wrote] that song for Cindy and want me to sing it? I’m not singing it!’ [laughs] And so I was stubborn.”

In her book, ‘No Woman, No Cry: My Life with Bob Marley,’ Rita opened up about Marley’s cheating and how she chose to stick by him, even though it (seemingly) impacted their union.

She said,

“Just because he did those things and cheated on me doesn’t mean he was a bad husband. He always provided for me, always gave me anything I wanted. But he was corrupted by show business, by the girls that would throw themselves at him. This is what I’ve come to understand.”

Additionally, Rita admitted to often refusing to have intercourse with Marley in their marriage due to his “unprotected” love triangles, but that didn’t stop her from continuing what they were building together.

She told an outlet,

“As they say you grunt and bear it, that’s what I had to do because I was so in love with this man and love grew stronger, it’s not that it grew weaker.”