Here's What Happened To Singer Lauryn Hill

Lauryn Hill has had a complicated relationship with fame. She began her career in earnest as an actor before finding success with the Fugees, the rap trio she started in high school alongside Pras Michael and Wyclef Jean. After releasing two studio albums, one of which propelled the group into superstardom, each of the members went their separate ways to work on solo projects (as well as other reasons), leading Hill to record her iconic studio album, "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill."

But even at the height of her fame, Hill didn't feel like she had made it. As she said to The Guardian in a 1999 interview, "I'm still not convinced that I'm a success. I'm still like one day something might happen, and I'll have to get another career. I kinda fell into this business, because I loved it, did it, but always stayed in school, always had other jobs, made sure that the bills were paid and the grades were good, just in case it didn't work out."

Hill never needed to find a new career, but no one in 1999 could've predicted her trajectory after the success of her first album. Here's what happened to one of the greatest artists with the smallest output in history, Lauryn Hill. 

Lauryn Hill's success began before she released "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" thanks to her short-lived acting career, as well as her work with the Fugees, namely the 1996 album "The Score," which featured hits like "Ready or Not" and "Killing Me Softly With His Song." But Hill's career ballooned when she released her own album, earning her millions and drawing comparisons to superstars like Jennifer Lopez. "She woulda been bigger than J. Lo," a former collaborator said to Rolling Stone of Hill of her potential.

Given Hill's success, it came as no surprise that she was offered lots and lots of follow-up projects after "The Miseducation." Among those reported offers were roles in "Charlie's Angels," "The Bourne Identity," and "The Mexicans," all of which either went on to have major success or starred big names. Hill also reportedly started developing a Bob Marley biopic and a romantic comedy, and she signed on to act in the screen adaptation of the Toni Morrison novel "Beloved," but for one reason or another, none of that work came to fruition for Hill. "Lauryn wasn't trying to do anything," Hill's Fugees bandmate Pras Michael said of her state of mind post-"Miseducation" (which could be another reason Lauryn Hill only released one album).

In 1997, the Grammy winner gave birth to her first child, Zion Marley, whom she shares with Rohan Marley, child of Bob Marley. In 1998, just months after "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" was released, Hill gave birth to her second child, her first daughter, Selah Marley. Then in 2001, while Hill was still a very popular public figure, she gave birth to a third child, Joshua Marley.

Motherhood has always been meaningful to Hill, despite it being something others discouraged her against. When she learned she was pregnant with Zion, people in Hill's circle encouraged her to have an abortion, Rohan told Rolling Stone. Nevertheless, she went through with the pregnancy and wrote about the experience of becoming a mother in the song "To Zion."

As Hill told The Guardian following the release of her album, "That song is about the revelation that my son was to me. I had always made decisions for other people, making everybody else happy, and once I had him that was really the first decision that was unpopular for me." She continued, saying, "It was one that was based on my happiness and not what other people wanted for me or for themselves. And it was the best decision that I could have ever made, because I'm the happiest and healthiest that I have ever been." Hill went on to have two more children with Rohan and, following their split, a sixth child with another man.

While Lauryn Hill was pregnant with her third child, she retreated from the public eye. "I think Lauryn grew to despise who Lauryn Hill was. Not that she despised herself as a human being, but she despised the manufactured international-superstar magazine cover girl who wasn't able to go out of the house looking a little tattered on a given day," a friend of Hill's said to Rolling Stone. The singer began leading a mostly secluded life. As she revealed later, those couple of years of intense privacy were filled with self-reflection and work to become more secure in herself.

Hill says she didn't write music or watch television during that time, either. "People need to understand that the Lauryn Hill they were exposed to in the beginning was all that was allowed in that arena at that time. ... I had to step away when I realized that for the sake of the machine, I was being way too compromised," Hill said to Essence of her retreat.

During this time — the early 2000s — Hill also became very close to a spiritual advisor, Brother Anthony. Many people questioned Anthony's influence on Hill, with those closest to her believing he was responsible for Hill firing her entire team and keeping Hill at an arm's length from the rest of the world. "It was like she was being brain washed by this man, believing everything he was saying and tellin' her what to do," one of Hill's friends said about the star's relationship with Anthony.

After Lauryn Hill released "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill," everyone in the music landscape anticipated her next album. In 2002, the singer excited her fans by dropping a live album, "MTV Unplugged No. 2.0," which she'd performed for a small crowd the year prior. The album debuted to mixed reviews, with many panning its unfinished sound but praising Hill for flashes of brilliance.

Reviews aside, Hill worried listeners with some of her spoken messages heard on the album. "I used to be a performer, and I really don't consider myself a performer so much anymore," Hill said on the album. "I had created this public persona, this public illusion, and it held me hostage. I couldn't be a real person, because you're too afraid of what your public will say. At that point, I had to do some dying."

"MTV Unplugged No. 2.0" turned out to be the last album in Hill's discography, and her lack of output combined with some worrying behaviors led people to question Hill's mental state. Those closest to her have a different opinion, though. "I don't think she's crazy. People tend to say that when they don't understand what someone's going through. Walk in her shoes, and see what would you do," Hill's Fugees bandmate Pras Michael said to Rolling Stone.

Lauryn Hill didn't stay out of the public eye forever. In 2005, she and the rest of the Fugees announced that they would be reuniting for a European tour and to record a new album, much to the pleasure of the band's legions of fans. "By coming back and resolving the issues that separated the band, we're trying to capitalize on a vibe and synergy that once was," Hill told Essence of the reunion. "Things probably didn't end properly. So this project has much to do with closure. Once you are able to resolve the negative, you can reclaim the good."

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. The Fugees broke up again and didn't record an album as they had intended. Both of Hill's bandmates, Wyclef Jean and Pras Michael, blamed Hill for the second rift. One point of contention was that Hill had begun asking people to call her Ms. Hill — something that her bandmates didn't take well. When asked about the name change, Hill told Essence, "I've always been wise beyond my years. I've always been a teacher. When I was a child, I was teaching adults, because I was always learning. I'm Ms. Hill because I know I'm a wise woman. That is the respect I deserve."

In true Lauryn Hill fashion, the star was never afraid to speak on her perspective of what went down between her and the Fugees. "The Fugees was a conspiracy to control, to manipulate and to encourage dependence. I took a lot of abuse that many people would not have taken in these circumstances," Hill told USA Today in 2005. She also made her stance on making new music quite clear. "If I make music now, it will only be to provide information to my own children. If other people benefit from it, then so be it."

While Hill didn't have much interest in making new music at the time, she did agree to performing her old stuff. For a few years in the mid- to late-2000s, Hill performed solo shows at various venues, including her own work and some Fugees songs in the lineups. The performances, however, weren't received well by many — and for good reason. At one of Hill's shows in August 2007, the singer arrived on stage hours later than scheduled and sang unsatisfactory renditions of her hits. Audiences were not pleased and left the show early after booing the star.

While Lauryn Hill has always spoken candidly about her children, she's kept the details about her romantic life incredibly private. For years, Hill was in a relationship with Rohan Marley, but the information surrounding the two has been muddy. For many years, Hill referred to Rohan as her husband, despite the two never becoming legally wed. And in the early 2000s, after the two had welcomed four children together, some sources claimed that the two had possibly split. Whether they split then or not is still unclear, but they were together at some point afterward as they had another child together. However, at some point after 2008, Hill and Rohan ended their romantic relationship for good. Both moved on to other relationships, and Hill gave birth to her sixth child — her first and only with someone other than Rohan — in 2011.

Neither Hill nor Rohan have discussed their past relationship much, but Rohan has expressed some regret over the part he played in its dissolution. "I feel sad that I loved her so much and I faltered in expressing it to her somehow. It was my fault that she did not understand how I felt, and it was sad that we did not work out in that relationship sense. I was heartbroken for a long time," he said to Open Magazine (via Singersroom).

The end of the 2000s and the beginning of the 2010s brought about many changes for Lauryn Hill. The star welcomed her fifth child with Rohan Marley, and she even performed some new configurations of her old songs, such as "Ex-Factor" and "Doo Wap (That Thing)," at the Harmony Festival in Santa Rosa, California. Hill had her own perspective on getting back into the music scene, much of which had to do with motherhood. "I have five children. The youngest is 2 now, so she's old enough that I can leave her for a period of time and know she's going to be OK. That's one reason [Hill is starting to perform again]. And I think it's just time. I'm starting to get excited again," Hill said to NPR.

Hill also performed at Coachella in 2011, delivering an unforgettable performance on the main stage. While some of the previous issues Hill had while performing also snuck into her Coachella concert, like arriving on stage late and some minor sound issues, the reception was overwhelmingly positive. "She's an incredible performer. There were sound problems, but it didn't matter. Her band was amazing," one listener said to the Los Angeles Times of Hill's performance. Another said, "I was so scared she was going to be preachy. But she wasn't at all."

Things went very south for Lauryn Hill in 2012. The star was charged with tax evasion, with federal prosecutors claiming that Hill did not file tax returns from 2005 to 2007 and did not pay taxes on the more than $1.6 million she earned during that time. The star pleaded guilty to the charges and said in court that while she planned to pay her taxes during those years, she wasn't able to. As reported by BBC, she also revealed, "I am a child of former slaves who had a system imposed on them. I had an economic system imposed on me."

In 2013, Hill was sentenced to three months in prison and three months of house arrest, as well as a year of supervised release and a $60,000 fine on top of the tax debt she was ordered to repay. Despite the tough circumstances, Hill adopted a positive mentality while serving time. "I have known since very young to look for the purpose and lesson in everything, including the trials. Although it has taken some adjustment, I cannot deny the favour I have encountered while in here, and general warm reception from a community of people who despite their circumstances, have found unique ways to make the best of them," Hill said in an open letter to her fans, as reported by Clash.

After she was released from prison, Lauryn Hill got to work, continuing to find ways to be creative throughout the 2010s. In 2014, Hill narrated the documentary "Concerning Violence," which detailed how different African nations fought for freedom in the 1960s and 1970s. Hill was also featured on the album "Nina Revisited: A Tribute to Nina Simone," which served as an accompaniment for the Nina Simone documentary "What Happened, Miss Simone?". "Because I fed on this music, both hers and lovers like her, like my basic food, I believed I always had a right to have a voice. Her example is clearly a form of sustenance to a generation needing to find theirs. What a gift," Hill said in a statement published by Rolling Stone.

Throughout the rest of the decade, Hill was continually featured on and/or credited in soundtracks for both new recordings and old. Among the projects were 2019's "Queen & Slim," a film that featured Hill's recording of "Guarding the Gates." For one of the film's screenings in Atlanta, Hill performed several of her songs live, and the director of the film shared with Hill and attendees how much Hill's work meant to the project.

In 2023, Lauryn Hill celebrated the 25th anniversary of her debut studio album, "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill." To honor the album, Hill embarked on an anniversary tour, and it was made that much more special by featuring a Fugees reunion. Soon after the tour started, however, Hill postponed the remainder of her shows. 

"As many of you may know, I've been battling serious vocal strain for the past month. ... In order to prevent any long term negative affect on my voice and my body, I need to take time off to allow for real vocal recovery so that I can discontinue the medication completely," Hill explained on Instagram.

Hill did return to performing as promised, making an appearance alongside her son YG Marley on the Coachella stage in 2024. In May, Hill was spotted out and about by TMZ, and she confirmed that she has been making new music, hinting that she may be releasing a new album soon. Later that month, Hill was also honored by Apple Music, which named "Miseducation" the best album of all time. Fans got even more excited in June when Hill announced that she and the Fugees would be going on tour together again; however, the North American leg of the tour was canceled shortly before it began. As of this writing, the overseas shows slated for October and November "are moving forward as planned," according to Hill.