Rohan Anthony Marley (born 19 May 1972) is a Jamaican entrepreneur and former college football player and Canadian Football League player. He is the son of reggae artist Bob Marley, and father of model Selah Marley, reggae artist YG Marley and former NFL football player Nico Marley. He was born out of wedlock from an affair that his father had with sixteen-year-old Janet Hunt during his marriage to singer Rita Marley. Rohan Marley went to live with his mother Janet on and off from the age of four[2][3][4] until moving to live with his paternal grandmother, Bob Marley’s mother Cedella Booker, after his father and the latter’s son died of cancer in Miami in 1981.[5]

Rohan Marley
Marley in 2012
Born
Rohan Anthony Marley

(1972-05-19) 19 May 1972 (age 52)
Occupation(s)Chairman of Marley Coffee
Chief Passion Officer of Gisges
Spouses
Geraldine Khawly
(m. 1993; div. 1996)
(m. 2019; div. 2020)
Partners
Children8, including Nico, Selah & YG
Parent(s)Bob Marley
Janet Hunt
Relatives
Football career
No. 1
Career information
Position(s)Linebacker
Height5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
Weight205 lb (93 kg)
CollegeMiami (FL)
High schoolMiami Palmetto (Pinecrest, Florida)
Career history
As player
1995Ottawa Rough Riders
Websiterohanmarley.com
marleycoffee.com
gisges.com

Early life and education

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Marley was born in Kingston, Jamaica, on 19 May 1972. He attended Miami Palmetto Senior High School in Pinecrest, Florida, where he graduated in 1991.[6] He then attended the University of Miami School of Business at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, where he played linebacker for the University of Miami football team. In the 1993 season, Marley led the Hurricanes' defense with 95 tackles.[1]

Career

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After his college football career at the University of Miami, Marley entered the Canadian Football League, where he played for the Ottawa Rough Riders.[7]

In 2009, he co-founded Marley Coffee, an organic coffee plantation and sustainable farming business in Jamaica's Blue Mountains,[8] although the majority of coffee sourced through Marley Coffee is from Ethiopia. The business is run on a 52-acre estate in Portland Parish.[9] In 2011, Marley Coffee went public under the name Jammin Java (OTC:JAMN).

In January 2011, Marley advertised a new 'House of Marley' range of eco-friendly headphones at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. The range has since expanded and now produces headphones and speakers as well as turntables.[10]

Marley also helps run his family's charitable organization, 1Love, as well as the Tuff Gong clothing company.[11]

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He made an appearance in the documentary film Motherland.[12]

Personal life

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On 18 March 1993, as a sophomore at the University of Miami, Marley married his girlfriend Geraldine Khawly. They had a daughter, Eden (b. 1994), and a son, Nico (b. 1995), who was a linebacker at Tulane and was signed by the Washington Redskins in 2017.[13][14]

Marley met musician Lauryn Hill in 1996, and they had five children: Zion David (b. 1997), model Selah (b. 1998), singer songwriter Joshua Omaru, known professionally as YG Marley (b. 2001), John Nesta (b. 2003), and Sara (b. 2008).[15][16][17] Marley and Hill lived apart for most of their relationship, which ended in 2009. Marley provided temporary custody for their five children while Hill served a three-month prison sentence for tax evasion in 2013. While Hill sometimes referred to Marley as her husband, they never legally married.[18]

In 2003, Rolling Stone suggested that Marley had never divorced Khawly. However, in 2011, Marley produced a Haitian divorce decree which demonstrated that he had divorced Khawly in 1996.[9]

In early 2013, Marley was briefly engaged to Isabeli Fontana, but the engagement ended in early 2013.[11]

On 23 March 2019, Marley married Brazilian model Barbara Fialho in Montes Claros, Brazil,[19] five months before the birth of their daughter Maria.[20] Marley divorced Fialho the following year.[21][22]

References

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  1. ^ a b Bruce Newman. "Hurricane From The Caribbean". Sports Illustrated. 13 September 1993. Retrieved on 30 April 2013.
  2. ^ Moskowitz, David Vlado (2007). Bob Marley: A Biography. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 94–95. ISBN 978-0313338793. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
  3. ^ Raul (26 July 2011). "Bob Marley All His Children & 9 Baby Mommas". FeelNumb.com. Archived from the original on 27 January 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
  4. ^ Dokubo, Titi (5 September 2022). "Most of Bob Marley's 12 Children Followed in His Footsteps". news.amomama.com. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
  5. ^ Vecsey, George (29 December 1992). "Sports of the Times; Sugar Bowl Rocks Early With Strains of Marley". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  6. ^ David O'Brien. "This Marley's music has more pop to it". Sun Sentinel. 3 September 1991. 1.C. Retrieved on 8 August 2009.
  7. ^ "Lady Soul[dead link]". Rolling Stone. 18 February 1999. Retrieved on 8 August 2009.
  8. ^ "Marley Coffee Website home page". Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  9. ^ a b "Exclusive: Rohan Marley Sets the Record Straight". The Avah Taylor Company. 9 June 2011. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
  10. ^ "[1]", Financial Post, 5 January 2011
  11. ^ a b "Rohan Marley Ends Engagement". iriefm.net. 5 March 2013. Archived from the original on 12 July 2014.
  12. ^ "Motherland Film with Rohan Marley". Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  13. ^ "Tulane Green Wave Football". Archived from the original on 29 August 2014.
  14. ^ Czarda, Stephen. "Redskins Sign Linebacker Nico Marley". Redskins.com. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
  15. ^ Laura Checkoway."Inside 'The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill'". Rolling Stone. August
  16. ^ "Essence Magazine". Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  17. ^ Tiffany McGee and Alex Tresniowski (18 August 2008). "Whatever Happened to ... Lauryn Hill?". People Magazine.
  18. ^ "Rohan Marley will take care of kids when Lauryn goes to jail". The Master Copy. 13 May 2013. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014.
  19. ^ "Inside Rohan Marley's Romantic Brazilian Wedding to Victoria's Secret Model Barbara Fialho". PEOPLE.com. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  20. ^ "Barbara Fialho on Instagram: "Maria"". Instagram. 18 December 2020. Archived from the original on 23 December 2021. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  21. ^ "Barbara Fialho diz: "Minha relação com a família Marley é linda"". L'Officiel Brasil (in Portuguese). Retrieved 14 February 2024.
  22. ^ "Top internacional Bárbara Fialho relembra perda de trabalho e divórcio do filho de Bob Marley: 'Tudo desmoronou' | Gente". O Globo (in Brazilian Portuguese). 5 October 2023. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
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