The Extraordinary Life of Nina Simone was Tragic and Empowering

The Extraordinary Life of Nina Simone was Tragic and Empowering

Tim Flight - September 16, 2019

The Extraordinary Life of Nina Simone was Tragic and Empowering
Nina and Andy Stroud in a hotel, 1960s. Daily Telegraph

22. She married a New York cop, Andy Stroud, in 1961, but he was appallingly abusive

A year after formally divorcing Don Ross, Nina married Andy Stroud, a New York cop. He helped her to deal with the inconveniences of fame and later became her manager, and in 1962 they had a daughter together, but this wasn’t the whole story. Stroud was a cruel and violent man, and his treatment of Nina is truly horrifying. To give but one example, after seeing her pocket a note from a fan at a disco, Nina wrote in her diary, ‘[Stroud] beat me all the way home… placed a gun to my head, tied me up and raped me’.

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