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Madonna can thank one of her friends for her brief relationship with Tupac Shakur.
Rosie Perez revealed on the Wednesday, November 6 episode of The Drew Barrymore Show that she set up the "Like a Prayer" singer, 66, with the rapper after the Do the Right Thing star went with him to the 1993 Soul Train Music Awards.
"Madonna, she was there and she came up to me and was like, 'Yo, what's up? You guys are together?'" Perez, 60,explained. "I said no, and she was like, 'Really? Hook me up.' I said, 'You got it.'"
Madonna then dated Tupac from 1993 until 1994, but she never spoke about their relationship until 20 years later.
"I was mad at [David Letterman] when I said the F-word a lot. I was in a weird mood that day," Madonna said on the Howard Stern Show in 2015, referring to her 1994 appearance on The Late Show. "I was dating Tupac Shakur at the time and the thing is he got me all riled up on life in general. So when I went on the show I was feeling very gangsta."
Tupac was killed during a 1996 drive-by shooting in Las Vegas. He was 25 at the time of his death and the shooter has never been found.
In 2007,TMZ obtained a handwritten letter allegedly written from Tupac to Madonna that revealed he ultimately dumped her because of her race.
He allegedly wrote, "For you to be seen with a black man wouldn't in any way jeopardize your career, if anything it would make you seem that much more open and exciting."
"But for me at least in my previous perception I felt due to my 'image' I would be letting down half of the people who made me what I thought I was," he continued, noting, "I never meant to hurt you."
Madonna went on to marry Guy Ritchie in 2000 after meeting him at a party hosted by mutual friends Sting and Trudie Styler a year prior. They welcomed their son, Rocco, the same year and divorced in 2008.
She dated Alex Rodriguez after their split, and has most recently been linked to Akeem Morris.
The "Material Girl" singer is also mom to Lourdes Leon, 28, David Banda, 19, Mercy James, 18, and 12-year-old twins Stella and Estere.
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