Key Takeaways
- Solé announced that her nine-year marriage to former Public Enemy figure Professor Griff has ended, calling it the completion of their “sacred season.”
- The longtime friends reconnected romantically in 2016 and married in August 2017, and Solé said they will move forward with “deep respect, care and blessings” for each other.
- Solé previously married Ginuwine, who publicly supported her relationship with Griff and later took responsibility for ending their marriage through infidelity.
Solé has announced the end of her marriage to longtime friend and Public Enemy figure Professor Griff after nine years together. R&B singer Ginuwine's former wife shared the news on Instagram, describing the separation as the end of a significant chapter in both their lives.
“Out of respect for both of our legacies and the communities that have supported us along our journey, I feel the need and responsibility to share that after completing a 9-year cycle together, my marriage to Prof. Griff has come to the completion of its sacred season,” Solé wrote. She did not disclose the official separation date or provide details about any divorce proceedings.
Solé, whose real name is Tonya Michelle Johnston, and Griff, born Richard Griffin, had known each other for nearly three decades before their relationship became romantic.
Griff—best known as Public Enemy’s former “Minister of Information”—had once occupied what Solé described as a big-brother role in her life. Their dynamic changed after they reconnected over lunch in August 2016, and the two married on Aug. 27, 2017. Solé subsequently adopted the surname Shah.
“With a heart full of gratitude, I bow to and honor all that was shared and created and learned along the way,” Solé continued. “Sometimes we are meant to walk beside one another for an earthly lifetime and other times we are preparing one another for the next expression of our journey in this realm as we walk our separate ways towards our own dharma.”
She added that the two would move ahead with “deep respect, care and blessings for one another.”
The announcement also closes another chapter in the closely connected history of Ginuwine, Solé and Professor Griff. Solé married Ginuwine—born Elgin Baylor Lumpkin—in the Cayman Islands in 2003 after the two began dating in 1999. They share two daughters, Story and Dream, and their divorce was finalized in 2015.
Two years later, Solé married Griff with Ginuwine’s public support.
Ginuwine also accepted responsibility for the collapse of his marriage to Solé. “I cheated. I did what I wasn’t supposed to do,” he said. “I shouldn’t be mad at him for scooping up a good woman that you was too dumb to know you had.”
Solé ended her statement by thanking those who supported the couple and asking for privacy as they move forward. “We are grateful for the love and support so many of you have shared with us over the years and kindly ask for your prayers as we embrace this new chapter,” she wrote.
