Tragic Details About Teyana Taylor's Life

Though she has been working in the entertainment industry for decades, an Academy Award nomination for "One Battle After Another" has propelled Teyana Taylor to new heights. Still, the star is not unfamiliar with life's lows. From family heartache to pregnancy complications, Taylor has dealt with many difficulties throughout her life. She has proven, however, that nothing will hold her down.

Taylor's first brush with fame came when she appeared on MTV's "My Super Sweet 16," by which time she had already choreographed for Beyoncé and signed with Pharrell's record label. She gained further attention for dancing in Kanye West's "Fade" music video a few years later, but the focus on her dancing and body overshadowed all else. Feeling boxed in and underappreciated, Taylor declared her retirement from music in December 2020, shortly after the release of her third album.

Leaving the world of music, Taylor committed fully to her acting career, booking roles in films such as "Coming 2 America" and "White Men Can't Jump." Then came her Independent Spirit Award-nominated performance in "A Thousand and One," which established Taylor as a force to be reckoned with.

From the big screen to the small (in the campy show "All's Fair," specifically), on red carpets and on runways, Taylor is seemingly everywhere. She even earned her first Grammy nomination in 2025, after returning to music with a fourth LP. This is all in spite of the hardships she has faced, which have been numerous. Let's take a look at some of the more tragic details of Teyana Taylor's life.

Teyana Taylor has often praised the strength and work ethic of her mother, Nikki Taylor, who has been her manager since the start of her career. She has described Nikki as a workaholic who would do anything for her family, but it's not like Nikki was really given a choice. Taylor's father, Tito Smith, was not around to help, as he was incarcerated for much of the star's childhood. In fact, he was already in jail when she was born, so he was not present for her birth, let alone most of her earliest milestones. "My mom was a single parent. My biological pops was in jail, like, 13, 14 years of my life," Taylor told Angie Martinez in an interview for the "IRL Podcast."

Taylor has said that she suffers from abandonment issues because of the situation with her father, coupled with the murder of her mother's fiancé — another big father figure — when she was around 11. Upon her dad's release, Taylor was dismayed that a connection could not immediately be built, at least partially, due to these deep wounds. "We just kept clashing. We just was clashing because like, you got out thinking you was about to tell me how this sh**'s run? And it's like, bro, you've been locked up for dumb long," she said to Martinez. Taylor now regularly appears at events with her father in tow, so it seems things are in a much healthier place now that she is an adult.

Teyana Taylor and ex-husband Iman Shumpert are parents to two children — Iman Tayla Shumpert Jr., born in December 2015, and Rue Rose Shumpert, born in 2020. Both pregnancies were extremely difficult for Taylor, and there is video evidence when it comes to the latter. Fans of "We Got Love: Teyana & Iman," the one-season reality series featuring Taylor and then-husband Shumpert, vividly remember her pregnancy difficulties, as they became a key part of the show's storyline. Specifically, the series documented Taylor's diagnosis with cholestasis, a liver condition that makes pregnancy incredibly high-risk.

"That s*** is damn near suicidal," Taylor said in an Interview Magazine piece. "It's not a joke, and it's not really anything you can do to cure it. It's like a, 'This too shall pass,' thing. Which is the reason why both my babies came early. If they would've stayed, I would've had a stillborn." The star also said another pregnancy is out of the question. "It's a rare condition, but it's emotional, and you feel alone," she explained. "So that postpartum is no joke. Because now you're thinking about everything, like, 'She came at eight months. What if she would've went full term?' And your mind is just tripping."

Taylor was also rushed into an emergency surgery after discovering lumps in her breasts, as documented on her show. "I had a lot of issues with producing milk, and when it finally came, literally everything hardened up," she explained in the show (via E! News).

Teyana Taylor first met basketball player Iman Shumpert in 2011, but things did not become romantic until 2013, when Taylor helped Shumpert recover from a knee injury and unexpected sparks flew. The couple took their relationship public the following year, and announced they were expecting their first child the year after that. An engagement came a few months later, in November 2015, and the pair secretly married sometime in 2016.

Though it seemed like a fairytale romance, the couple announced their separation in 2023. "We are still the best of friends, great business partners and are one hell of a team when it comes to co-parenting our 2 beautiful children," Taylor posted online (via People). "Most importantly we are FAMILY & in the 10yrs together, 7yrs married we ain't ever played with or about THAT."

Taylor and Shumpert's divorce was finalized in 2024, and things got somewhat dark. After each party accused the other of leaking details to the press — a violation of their agreement — Taylor was found in contempt of court and ordered to pay $70,000 to cover her ex's attorney fees.

In January 2026, Taylor made a rare statement about the divorce in an interview with Vanity Fair. "Divorce, to me, is you're grieving the death of a living being," she said. "I think once children are involved, you understand the importance of really still having to show up for each other. At least for the next 18 years, and being the best co-parents that we can be."

Anyone who has seen Teyana Taylor perform knows that she goes hard, which can only be expected from someone who choreographed a Beyoncé music video at 15 and who has not stopped working since. However, just as great athletes need to be benched from time to time, Taylor had to cancel tour dates in 2021 after her body exceeded its capacities. The star was on her "The Last Rose Petal...Farewell Tour" at the time, set to perform her next show in Mashantucket, Connecticut, when she was taken to the hospital and told she could not perform.

"Y'all know Petunia don't miss no shows & most importantly, know I've been leaving it all on tha stage for a month straight 1000%. So I am really saddened to have not been able to do the same for you last night," Taylor wrote on Instagram in a now-deleted post (via People). "My team & I tried everything down to the very last second to get me out on that stage, but my body simply just gave out, which actually started a few days ago."

Taylor coupled the post with an intimate photo from her hospital bed, affirming she was telling the truth. It is worth noting that the hospitalization was only a few months after the star's emergency surgery for breast lumps, so it is commendable that she was even out on tour in the first place.

Teyana Taylor pushes herself hard. Between that, long stretches of time without any breaks, and her health issues, it makes sense that she's landed herself in the hospital several times. In 2025, it was Taylor's vocal cords that gave out on her after years of belting out tunes. For what it's worth, "The Masked Singer" Season 7 winner is in good company, as many of the greats have also had vocal cord surgery. This includes Adele, whose damaged voice has been well-documented, as well as Julie Andrews, Sam Smith, Miley Cyrus, and many others.

"I've been quietly dealing with some vocal challenges for a while now. After a lot of back and forth with my doctors, I've been told I need vocal surgery immediately," Taylor announced in an August 2025 Instagram story, captured and reposted by Vibe. "They've found a noncancerous growth on one of my cords that's been messing with my voice and causing real discomfort. Thankfully, we caught it & it's treatable—but it does mean I need to pause and give myself time to fully heal."

Unfortunately, the surgery coincided with the release of Taylor's fourth album, "Escape Room," which marked her much-anticipated return to music. Taylor triumphantly returned to the stage on October 14, 2025, when she performed a small set at The Sun Rose in West Hollywood, California, as part of a for-your-consideration Grammy set.