Gaye herself is no stranger to family tragedy. Just 9 years old when her dad was shot and killed by his father, Marvin Gay Sr., she struggled with grief and drug addiction for years. Now sober and a single mom, Gaye, 29, who appeared in '01's Ali and May's The Matrix Reloaded, savors her biggest role yet in The Matrix Revolutions, the series' final entry. "She is an extremely tough girl," says producer Joel Silver. "And it doesn't hurt that she is beautiful and strong." Gaye's mom, Jan, 47, and son Nolan, 6, joined her on the Australian set. "She is so nurturing," says her Ali and Matrix costar Jada Pinkett Smith. "She experienced a big loss early on in life, and I think that has shaped her into a person that does not take things for granted."
Certainly Gaye was forced to grow up fast. As youngsters she and her brother Bub, 27, now an artist, witnessed their parents' troubled marriage, which ended in '81. "Their relationship was fiery," she says, "[but] they loved each other to the bone." Her memories of her father are bittersweet. When she belted out his song "A Funky Space Reincarnation" at age 5, "he hugged me and said, 'That's my girl!'" she recalls. At the same time, Marvin was battling drug addiction. "He was very depressed," says Gaye. "The last conversation I had with him, he said, 'Take care of your brother and your mom, because Daddy's not going to be here much longer.'"
The words were prophetic. On April 1, 1984, Marvin, 44, was shot to death by his father after a fight. The family heard the news on the radio. "We turned on the TV, and there was my father being rolled out in a body bag," she recalls. "That never goes away." (Marvin Sr., who was sentenced to probation, died in 1998.)
Still reeling, Gaye, who grew up in L.A., began using drugs at 13. "I tried everything," she says. Dropping out of high school her sophomore year, she modeled and released a weak-selling R & B album in 1992. All the while, she was warring with Jan, a prescription-drug addict at the time. "It was always, 'What are you on?' And I'd say, 'What are you on?'" Gaye recalls. At 18, she began dating Prince, 16 years her senior. "I was in love or infatuation," she says. "I just thought he was beautiful." When they split three years later, "my heart was shattered," says Gaye.
In 1996 Jan entered rehab. "I was so angry at her for leaving me because she was my using buddy," says Gaye, who lashed out by downing pills and champagne one night: "It was a cry for help." She entered rehab the next day and has been sober ever since.
Today she and her mom enjoy a close friendship: "We've almost grown up together," says Jan. Gaye shares her three-bedroom stucco house in L.A. with Nolan, whose father, Justin Martinez, was Gaye's high school sweetheart. Although the pair split shortly after Nolan's birth, Gaye remains friendly with Martinez, 29, an artist. "As long as he takes care of Nolan, I'm happy," says Gaye.
She has plenty of other reasons to feel happy as well. Her second album, Love and Sex, will be released next year, and she costars with Tom Hanks in The Polar Express, a holiday movie due next year. But like the 5-year-old singing "Funky Space," Gaye longs for her dad's approval. If she could speak to him, "I would say, 'Where have you been? I've needed you so bad for so long,'" she says. "But I'd want to thank him for what he left me."
MICHELLE TAUBER
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