WHITE VAN MAN
From posing with nude Madonna to drugs and duetting with Jedward, Vanilla Ice’s very colourful life since THAT ’90s rap
RAPPER Vanilla Ice could never be described as, well, vanilla.
The popstar, famous for his hit Ice, Ice Baby, has reinvented himself time and time again, from chart-topper to reality star, world-class jet-skier and DIY expert.
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But his latest endeavour is one of the most surprising. The one-hit wonder, real name Robert Van Winkle, has made a seven-part BBC podcast The Disappearance of Shergar the Super Horse, about the famous 1981 Derby winner.
He calls the mystery the "most amazing story ever" and is calling on Hollywood director about it.
Robert, 53, said: "This story just intrigues you, it's like a really good book - you can't set it down. This needs to be a Hollywood blockbuster, top star, top producers - Spielberg needs to come on and do this."
Shergar, owned by the Aga Khan, was kidnapped from the Ballymany Stud in County Kildare, Ireland. Worth £10 million, it is believed the horse was taken by the IRA to buy weapons at the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, but the thoroughbred's body has never been found.
And while Vanilla Ice might not be the first person you would think to host such a podcast, he has always had a love of horses. Here we take a look at what else he's been up to since THAT 1990 song.
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Hitting the big time and dating Madonna
Robert wrote Ice, Ice Baby when he was just 16, using a sample of the iconic Queen and David Bowie song, Under Pressure.
Seven years later, the song, with the famous line, "Stop, collaborate and listen" made him a millionaire before his 21st birthday. It would go on to sell more than 40 million records.
His album To The Extreme, went to the top of the Billboard charts in America - and stayed there for an incredible 16 weeks, selling more than 13 million copies.
It made this American rapper, called "Vanilla" by his Black and Mexican friends on the breakdancing scene, more famous than he could ever have imagined.
He dated the Queen of Pop for eight months and appeared topless caressing a fully nude Madonna for her controversial photography book, Sex.
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He said: "We'd go to restaurants in crazy, stupid disguises, and seriously nobody would know it was us."
They broke up when it was published because Robert felt the book was "disgusting and cheap." He said: "We were in a relationship, yet it looked like she was screwing all these other people."
He was invited to appear as a cameo on the second Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, The Secret of the Ooze, which Robert considers one of the coolest experiences of his career.
And you know you've hit the big time when you have a doll made in your image.
And afterwards, the fall ...
What goes up quickly, often plummets just as fast.
Robert began using ecstasy, heroin and cocaine.
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His former chauffeur Al Bowman told the “He was completely mad. Crazy. Out of control. But always, always fun. He did booze, coke, everything. He got high once and said, ‘I should be a male stripper.’
“He got out of my limo and started doing this strip dance on the bonnet."
Al, who earned more than £2,000 a month for driving Robert around Los Angeles, said the star once ripped a door handle off in a drug-fuelled rage.
He said: “I would find all sorts left in the back – empty coke vials, coke bundles, half-smoked joints, used bottles of tequila, everything.
“The last time I drove for him he was so messed up. It looked like it had really got to him. The lifestyle had caught up with him."
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Robert said: "My drug of choice was always X. More than heroin and blow. I could just pop a pill and instantly feel better about all the s*** in life."
Then Queen and David Bowie threatened to sue for copyright.
In a famous video clip, Robert strived to defend himself, saying: "Theirs goes ding-ding-ding dada ding-ding, and mine goes ding-ding-ding dada ding-ding dink," but he paid up an undisclosed sum in an out-of-court settlement regardless.
I wanted to completely disappear
Vanilla Ice
His second album, released in 1991, sold only 45,000 copies and his 1991 movie, Cool as Ice, in which he starred, flopped at the box office. He also won the Razzie Award - celebrating cinema's duds - for "Worst new star."
Depression followed.
He told the : "I wanted to completely disappear. I wouldn't go to the grocery store. I wouldn't go to the gas station. If I ordered pizza, I'd have somebody else answer the door just so nobody would ever see me."
In July 1994, Robert attempted suicide by overdosing on heroin. Luckily, his friends revived him.
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In trouble with the law
On June 3, 1991, Robert was arrested for threatening a homeless man with a gun.
The man, James N. Gregory, had approached Robert's car outside a supermarket and tried to sell him a silver chain.
Robert and his bodyguard were charged with three weapons offenses.
It was the second time he had been arrested, but the previous time was in 1988, long before he was famous, and was for illegal drag racing.
It would not, however be the last.
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In 2001, he was arrested for assaulting his then wife, Laura. He admitted pulling her hair as they drove, but said it was to stop her jumping out of his truck's window.
Four months later, he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and was sentenced to probation and ordered to attend family sessions.
In 2008, he was arrested for battery for allegedly kicking and hitting his wife. The charges were dropped.
In 2015, he was accused of stealing furniture, a pool heater, bikes and other items from a Florida home. The charges were dropped on completion of 100 hours community service.
Robert accepted a plea deal which would result in charges being dropped after completing 100 hours of community service.
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Adrenalin sports and matters of the heart
Before he turned to rap, Robert used to race motocross, winning three championships and breaking his ankle in the process.
After the popstar bubble burst, he returned to his first love and embarked on a new sport in jet-skiing.
Within a couple of years, he was on the world circuit and had a sponsorship deal with motorbike brand, Kawasaki.
At one point, Robert was ranked sixth in the world.
He also ran a sporting shop on Miami Beach called 2 The Extreme.
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All these heart-stopping adventures can't compare to the adventures in his romantic life though.
He married Laura Giaritta in 1997, having met three years earlier, and were together for 22 years.
But it was often a turbulent relationship. There were the arrests for a start, and the public feuds.
Robert told a newspaper that Laura had bipolar disorder, which she then publicly rubbished as a lie. There were also rumours she had cheated on him, which she denied.
Laura filed for divorce in 2016, as a 46th birthday present to herself.
The pair, who have two daughters together, had been living apart for five years, but still turning up to public events and holidaying together "like boyfriend/girlfriend," according to Laura.
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She said when she filed the papers: "He wants to keep me, but he is such a narcissist that he doesn't think I'm serious."
Robert and his girlfriend Kirra welcomed their daughter, Priscilla Love, in June 2018. She was born three months premature, weighing two pounds.
Back with a brand new invention
Robert is a man of many talents.
In 2010, he established himself as a home improvements expert with his D-I-Y Network show, The Vanilla Ice Project.
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It has notched up more than 100 episodes and nine seasons.
And being known for his bling, what could be more natural than for him to put his name to a lighting range of chandeliers and wall lamps?
But nothing compares to the time he joined X Factor twins, Jedward, for their mash-up single, Under Pressure (Ice Ice Baby).
It went to number two in the charts in 2010 and the bouffant-haired Irish brothers said last year they would love to release it again.
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He's also shown off his fancy footwork on Dancing on Ice in 2011 and the US version of Strictly, Dancing with the Stars, in 2016.
His stint on the ITV1 dance show was memorable because he came a cropper during rehearsals and ended up with a severe concussion.
He said afterwards: “I needed four stitches to my head. There was blood all over but the concussion was the worst part.
"For a week I had no idea where I was and what I was doing."
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He's no stranger to reality shows or the injuries that can come with them.
He said: “I also did Celebrity Bull Riding in the US – that was scary, especially when a bull trampled me."
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Robert also appeared on Channel 5's The Farm, back in 2004. He and the late magician Paul Daniels had a blazing bust up during a discussion on the Iraq was, after which Paul quit the show.
Clearly, there's nothing the man can't turn his hand to.
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Vanilla Ice's collection of chandeliers and wall lamps
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