The Lousiana rapper, known as much for his confessional interviews as for his music, recently appeared on Friends Keep Secrets podcast with Benny Blanco, Lil Dicky and Kristin Batalucco, where he spoke candidly about his relationships, including going through two divorces and one marriage in a single year.
The most talked-about part of the conversation centered on Brittany Renner, whose 52-day marriage to Gates made headlines last year. Around the 16 minute mark, he reveals that the short-lived marriage was not about betrayal or some dramatic fallout. “Nothing went wrong [in that marriage] and everything went right, I just had jealousy which came from my childhood trauma.”
He goes on to explain, “I had unhealed traumas that came from my mother, you giving this man more attention than you giving your own children.”
He unpacked how those wounds shaped his behavior in relationships. “So I would compete for the attention of my woman from everything. I don’t want you to give anyone more attention than me, I don’t care if we have kids, you better not give them more attention than me.”
But Gates said his perspective has shifted through his healing journey. Reflecting on where he is now, he said, “When you love somebody, you want them to be happy no matter what.”
The conversation comes at a time when Gates’ personal life has been under unusually close public scrutiny. His brief marriage to Brittany Renner became a major talking point in June 2025 after Renner said the two married on April 6 and divorced on May 28.
Then, a little over a month later, Dreka Gates filed for divorce after nearly nine years of marriage, listing July 10, 2025 as their date of separation. Dreka and Kevin had been together for far longer than that publicly, sharing two children and years of personal and professional history, with Dreka also playing a major role in his career.
Regardless, Gates’ conversation leads us to wonder: is wanting to come before your own children in a marriage a sign of unresolved pain, or just plain toxic? And when people build a family, who is really supposed to come first — the spouse or the child?