On Marriage Boot Camp: Hip Hop Edition, rapper Styles P and his wife, Adjua Styles revealed that they lost their daughter Tai to suicide when she was 20 years old.
On July 26, 2015, the rapper posted on Instagram that his daughter had taken her own life the previous month. He and his wife did not know that Tai, Style’s step-daughter, was suffering from depression. Tai was struggling with the fact that her biological father was not part of her life and both Styles and Adjua felt helpless as they watched Tai try to fill the void left in her life.
The suicide completely changed Styles and Adj.’s marriage and relationship and the two went to Marriage Boot Camp: Hip Hop Edition to try to sort through the complicated feelings of grief and loss that were taking a toll on the couple’s love life.
Here’s what we know about Styles P and Adjua Styles daughter’s suicide:
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1. Styles P & Adjua Came to Marriage Boot Camp: Hip Hop Edition to Help Cope with Grief
One month after his daughter’s death, Styles P posted a message to Instagram about losing his daughter. He wrote, “last month my wife and I lost a daughter and my son lost a sister. My baby girl took her life and there are no words to describe the [day-to-day] pain we have to endure and maintain through but in dealing with pain you find yourself dealing with the creator and asking questions and going through emotions most would not understand.”
In a 2018 docuseries, Adjua told OWN’s Black Love, ”I’ve always… heard from people the loss of a child can really be a testament to the marriage, and most couples don’t always make it. And I’d be like, ‘Why? I would think it would bring them closer,'” Adjua, who also has a son with Styles, admitted. “And I can actually see that now… We’ve literally been forced to grow from that experience.”
Five years later, the couple continues to try to process their grief. This is one of the reasons why they both decided to join the cast on Marriage Boot Camp. “After you suffer a major loss, frustration levels get higher than they used to be,” Styles said on the Feb. 6 premiere. “Things become harder to deal with.”
2. Adjua & Styles Did Not Know Tai Was Depressed
Styles P and his wife Adjua Styles shared an enlightening take on coping with their daughter’s death in an interview with Power 105.1’s The Breakfast Club on August 16, 2017. “As much as you think that they’re telling you everything, you don’t know everything,” Adjua said when she was asked if she knew that their daughter battled depression.
Tai Styles committed suicide in 2015, and her parents said there were no immediate signs that she would take her own life. “We were extremely close,” she continued. “I had her on the brink of 19 [years old]. When she committed suicide she was living on her own, and I feel within my heart that if I was around…[I would’ve] been her safe haven.”
Adjua said their daughter was going through a breakup at the time, which may have contributed to the tragic decision. “She felt very alone,” she said. “She was going through a break up at that time with her girlfriend. It was a culmination of all of these emotions at that time. It wasn’t thought out obviously.”
3. Adjua Styles Wrote the Book “The Ethereal Hike” as a Tribute to Her Daughter’s Life
Adjua Styles wrote a book entitled “The Ethereal Hike: How To Discern The Privilege of Loss Through the Power of Love.” The book is about the death of her daughter and how spirituality guides her to healing. Her book helps others move through their own pain and trauma, to go from surviving to thriving.
The book was released on Amazon in January 2020. On The Breakfast Club in January 2020, Adjua and Styles P discussed Adjua’s book, which describes the time of her daughter’s death and how she and her daughter used to love to hike, and the connection between the process of hiking to get to a better place in life.
Adjua and Styles P have a son together and Adjua told the radio show that she and Styles raise their son with the same unconditional love. Adjua reveals that her daughter was in therapy because of hormonal issues and acting out in school. Adjua made the decision to put her in therapy because she said she did not have the patience to deal with her daughter’s behavior. Her daughter’s therapy took place when she was young and Adjua says that her daughter was too young at the time to take it seriously.
4. Tai Styles Was Bisexual & Coping With A Breakup
In 2017, Styles P and Adjua appeared on The Breakfast Club to talk about their daughter’s suicide. Adjua says that she was trying to be an adult, leaving home and living on her own. She was bisexual and was going through a breakup at that time with her girlfriend. Adjua says it wasn’t planned, but was something that wasn’t thought out.
Styles P told The Breakfast Club that if he knew that she was depressed, she’d be home with him but that she never mentioned her depression. He said that it’s hard to say what mental health is when he himself has felt homicidal at times when people havre pushed him too far in life. He continued that it’s hard to describe mental health and it’s not completely accurate to say that suicide always stems from depression, but is sometimes a hair trigger reaction, just like a feeling of homicidal rage, he told the show’s hosts.
In terms of her being bisexual, Tai’s parents didn’t think of it as intimidating or threatening because it was two females. Adjua told the show’s hosts that she didn’t think it was that serious because she thought there was more sensitivity in a same sex situation. She continued that she learned that it was in actuality, two partners with two significant roles. Adjua said, “I don’t understand that type of lifestyle so I didn’t take it seriously. It seems to me that homosexuality has become a trend, and I didn’t want her to follow that trend. When she came to me and told me that she was bisexual, she said, ‘I just love people that love me.’ With that, it was very easy to understand.”
5. Tai Styles’ Brother, Noah Styles, Is Beginning His Music Career
Tai Hing, Adjua’s daughter and Styles P’s step-daughter, has a brother, Noah Styles, who is Adjua and Styles’ biological son. He worked with Styles on beginning his music career, releasing an album in 2019, after Styles P released S.P. The GOAT: Ghost of All Time in 2019, he teamed up with his son Noah Styles for a special project released ahead of Father’s Day.
They released the short EP, Generational Excellence, with six tracks that features Dyce Payne, Jaewon and Chris Rivers. Styles P and his son link up for a special project. While the bars are handled predominantly by P and his collaborators, his son handles the beats. It’s a solid project from the two, even if it is 15 minutes but it will likely spark future collaborations between the two.
In 2018, Styles P appeared on Hot 97 Ebro in the Morning to promote his album G. Host. He talked about his relationship with Adjua and how she was in his life from the beginning, before his success. He said the key to the success of their marriage is understanding that every day is tough and that mourning is different for everybody. He told the radio show hosts that it’s hard to talk about mental health and that he thought that everyone had some sort of mental health issue, the key to dealing with it is to keep talking about it.
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