The marriage itself was troubled from its earliest days. Janis described it to biographers and interviewers as marked by domestic abuse and drug dependence. In 1979, Janis filed for legal separation.
There was an incident in 1979 in Hawaii that multiple accounts describe as extraordinarily dangerous: Gaye, high on cocaine and reportedly mushrooms, was said to have tried to kill Janis after learning of an alleged affair. He denied this occurred. The full truth of what happened in Maui in 1979 has never been definitively established through legal proceedings or contemporaneous documentation.
What is documented is that the marriage continued to deteriorate, that they divorced in November 1982, and that they attempted at least one final reconciliation during Gaye’s 1983 concert tour, which ultimately failed. They remained in telephone contact until his death.
Janis Hunter died on December 3, 2022.
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PART SEVEN: FINANCIAL RUIN AND THE ROAD TO EUROPE
By 1978 and 1979, Marvin Gaye’s finances had collapsed.
The IRS had assessed him for unpaid taxes amounting to more than $4.5 million. In October 1978, Gaye filed for voluntary bankruptcy. Motown foreclosed on the West Hollywood recording studio he had built, a place he called “Marvin’s Room.” The life of excess he had lived through his peak years—lavish spending, failed ventures, the costs of his drug habit—had caught up with him.
He owed money in every direction. The IRS. Alimony. Child support. Former business partners. He was, by any objective measure, in serious financial trouble.
A 1979 tour was plagued by exhaustion and drug use. Motown rejected an album he had prepared called *Love Man*. He retreated to Hawaii.