Dawn Robinson, a former member of the R&B girl group En Vogue, said in a recent YouTube video that she is homeless and has lived in her car for the past three years.

“You guys, for the past three years, I have been living in my car,” Robinson, 58, said in a video released on Tuesday, March 11, before sighing in relief. “I said it, oh my gosh, it’s out.”

In 2020, the singer revealed that she was living with her parents in Las Vegas. She eventually chose to go, though. She moved to Los Angeles at the urging of her old manager. He suggested she stay with him for a while, but that didn’t work out, and she spent eight months in a motel.

As she stayed at the hotel, it became difficult to locate an apartment since the management was reportedly “playing games” and disapproving of the locations Robinson suggested she may reside. “Sometimes people want to trap you and keep you in a situation where you’re vulnerable and depending on them,” she told me of their relationship. “So I got out of there.”

Robinson started investigating “car life” and “loved what [she] was seeing.” Three years have passed since she began her “car life” and drove to Malibu, California.

“I felt free,” she explained of her decision. “I felt as if I were on a camping vacation. It just seemed proper to do.”

The performer emphasized to the audience that she is not sharing her story for sympathy.

“It’s not ‘woe is me,'” she explained. “I’m learning about myself. “I’m discovering myself as a person and a woman.”

I miss my family. I miss all the people I connected with. But I had to do it alone… But I needed to do this for myself,” she explained, before admitting that her dog Max died in the car. This woman “really is on [her] own.”

She ended the video by informing viewers that she would have an apartment if she could, but she is “absolutely” delighted she did it. “I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished out here.”

“Be spontaneous,” she advised. “Do something frightening. “F— fear.”

Robinson was a founding member of En Vogue, a four-member female group that included Cindy Herron, Terry Ellis, and Maxine Jones. The group started in 1989 and released their first album, Born to Sing, the following year. Robinson sang the lead vocals for “My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It),” “Giving Him Something He Can Feel,” and “Free Your Mind.”

En Vogue received six Grammy nominations between 1991 and 1997.

Robinson quit the group in March 1997 to sign with Dr. Dre’s label, Aftermath. She returned to En Vogue for brief spells in 2005 and 2009. Robinson has also appeared in a number of films, including the inaugural season of R&B Divas: Los Angeles.