Darlene Ortiz Net Worth – $2 million
What is Darlene Ortiz’s net worth?
Introduction
Darlene Ortiz is an American model, author, and social media celebrity, but she is most notably recognized as the girlfriend of Ice-T, the American rapper and actor.
She is the author of “Definition of Down: My Life with Ice T & the Birth of Hip Hop,” a tell-all book about her relationship with Ice-T and the emerging hip-hop industry in the early 90s.
The Origin Story
Darlene Ortiz is the youngest of many older sisters and grew up in a volatile environment where she witnessed her mom and dad struggle with alcoholism.
But despite her father struggling with addictions, Ortiz recalls very fond memories of him:
“My dad was an awesome dude. His family made up for all the bull that I had to deal with with my mom.”
The father-daughter duo was very close, and he loved teaching her anything he could.
He bought her first motorcycle and taught her how to ride.
She told Complex that one of the most important things he taught her was not to care about what anyone thinks of her and always to be herself.
Her father passed away years after she moved out, but she keeps his memory alive on her many social media accounts.
Prior to his passing, she wanted to maintain a close relationship with him, but it was too difficult with her mom always being around, so she decided to move out and strived for bigger and better things.
As she said, “you gotta do what you gotta do to survive,” so she began to make changes.
Meeting Ice-T
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Her life took a turn for the better when she was hanging out at LA’s iconic Radiotron, where Ice-T was the regular MC.
Ortiz went there to let loose and forget about her problems by doing what she did best at the time, breakdancing.
Darlene met the up-and-coming rapper, Ice-T, and remembered the evening vividly:
“He walked into the club and spotted me, and the rest is history.”
This night would mark the start of their 17-year relationship.
Ortiz and Ice-T started dating, and the relationship quickly became serious.
During the first years of their relationship, the emerging rapper took a leap of faith and relocated to New York from Los Angeles because that was the place to be if he wanted to land a rapping record deal.
Ortiz followed him, and two months into the move, he landed his record deal.
Darlene was his biggest cheerleader and joined him on all his upcoming tours.
She eventually started working for him, doing “everything.”
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He still had financial managers, but she was responsible for many interview bookings and tours.
Ortiz has even been hired as his model for his album covers Rhyme Pays and Power.
Her photo sent shockwaves through the music industry because she was photographed in a swimsuit, holding a shotgun, and had a shotgun pendant hanging from a necklace.
They were considered the first hip-hop power couple of the 90s, and over the years, she’s garnered the reputation of hip-hop royalty.
The Pair Share A Son
The couple stayed together for 17 years but were never legally married.
Together, they share a son, Tracy Marrow Jr., born on November 23, 1991.
Darlene was 24 when she got pregnant and 25 when she gave birth to him. This was a miracle in the making because being a mother was something she had always wanted.
The End Of An Era
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When the couple formally split, Ortiz obtained full custody of their son, but Ice-T was still a significant part of this life.
In fact, it turns out that their son grew up to be a lot like his father.
He had big dreams to become an entrepreneur and currently works in the flipping and website sales business.
Ortiz has been asked in numerous interviews how her relationship is with Ice-T and his new wife, CoCo.
She explained that while she would like the relationship to be better, it’s not bad, but not good. She also stated that Ice-T assured her that she and their son would be taken care of. In spite of this, she is doing exceptionally well for herself.
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Book
In 2015, Ortiz officially became an author.
She released her first self-authored book, “Definition of Down: My Life with Ice T & the Birth of Hip Hop.”
In the book, she dives deep into the world of hip-hop and how it started.
She teases the readers with intimate glimpses into the daily life of the then-power duo with stories about their journey from the bottom up.
Ortiz also includes stories of other emerging rappers at the time.
The book’s most significant selling point is that it consists of never seen photos of some of America’s biggest hip-hop icons.
She toured America to promote the book in 2015 and gave many interviews.
Not long after it was released, it started to bring in rankings, including 4/5 on Goodreads and 4.5/5 on Amazon.
Needless to say, the readers loved what she had to say and enjoyed the spilled beans she sprinkled all over the book.
Darlene Ortiz – Net Worth 2024
So, how much is Darlene Ortiz worth? Ortiz earned most of her wealth from selling copies of her book and working with Ice-T. Calculating from the numbers of ratings, Ortiz’s book sold about 14k copies on Amazon alone. Therefore, Darlene Ortiz has an estimated net worth of $2 million.
She also worked as a fitness instructor.
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