Nicole Young Seeks to Challenge Prenup in Dr. Dre Divorce in Filed Request for Separate Trial
Dr. Dre and Nicole Young
Nicole Young is challenging the validity of her prenuptial agreement with Dr. Dre, claiming that the rapper tore up the agreement a few years into their marriage, thus rendering it null and void.
Nicole, 50, filed for divorce from Dre (born Andre Romelle Young), 55, in June after 24 years of marriage.
In a filing this week obtained by PEOPLE, Nicole is asking the court for an early trial in order to determine whether their prenuptial agreement is valid, as the enforceability of that agreement will "affect the scope of the remaining issues in this case."
Nicole said in the filing that her husband's "net worth is estimated to be in the ballpark of $1 billion," and said that he earned the majority of that wealth during their marriage.
In his response to Nicole's divorce filing, Dre said that the couple had a prenuptial agreement — but Nicole is saying now that she felt pressured to sign it, and that later on in their marriage Dre agreed that it was no longer valid.
"Before our wedding date, Andre demanded that I sign a premarital agreement that 16 of his lawyers had drafted," Nicole said in her declaration attached to the filing.
"Andre, at the time, was a well-known producer and rapper in the music industry, but he had not reached anywhere near the pinnacle of his music, entertainment and business career that he achieved during our marriage," she said. "He told me that I must sign a premarital agreement or he would not marry me."
"I was extremely reluctant, resistant and afraid to sign the agreement and felt backed into a corner," Nicole said, adding that she was "left with no option" but to "unwillingly" sign the prenuptial agreement shortly before their wedding because of the "extraordinary pressure and intimidation by Andre."
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"About two to three years into our marriage, Andre acknowledged to me that he felt ashamed he had pressured me into signing a premarital agreement and he tore up multiple copies of the agreement in front of me," Nicole said. "Since the day he tore up the agreements we both understood that there was no premarital agreement, and that it was null and void."
Nicole said that she never received a copy of the prenuptial agreement when she first signed it, and still hasn't after multiple requests for a copy.
An attorney for Dre did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.
Last year, Forbes estimated Dre's net worth at $800 million, and in December was named the highest earning artist of the past decade.
When Nicole and Dre tied the knot in 1996, the musician had already amassed a fortune as a founding member of the rap group N.W.A. before releasing his solo debut studio album The Chronic in 1992 under Death Row Records, which he co-owned before he founded his own label, Aftermath Entertainment, and signed Eminem and 50 Cent.
In the 2000s, Dre focused on producing for other artists — including 2Pac, Snoop Dogg, The Game and Kendrick Lamar — and in 2008 launched his first product under Beats by Dr. Dre. Apple purchased the brand for $3 billion in May 2014.
