As En Vogue founding member Dawn Robinson’s confession that she has been living in her car spreads across the internet, the reactions have ranged from shock to pity at what some believe to be an awful fall from grace for a person who was once part of a hit-making musical group.
But one TikToker says to save your pity, and she has a message for those who have come for Robinson: Mind ‘ya business.
Content creator @mothernateur, who has been living in her car for five years, shares everything from how she sleeps to how she bathes (spoiler alert: she says her ass is clean) with her over 400,000 followers, including Robinson, who she considers part of the “car life community.”
“Because [Dawn] is one of my flowers and part of the car life community, that means she’s family, and I can’t have ya’ll coming at my family like that,” she said in a March 16 post.
MotherNATEur says plenty of people choose to call their cars home, adding that not all of them are doing it because they’re broke. In fact, she says she chose the life for the freedom it gives her.
“Freedom is the number one thing that I appreciate about this lifestyle,” she said. “I can be on the beach one day or go play in the snow. I have the freedom to be wherever I want to be.”
MotherNATEur is getting lots of love in the comments for her brave journey.
“It’s the freedom from materialism. From impressing strangers who don’t care. I love watching your journey,” wrote someone one commenter.
A search for “car life,” “van life” or “car life for beginners” on TikTok will produce a healthy dose of content from people like MotherNATEur who are sharing their experiences and their best practices for living on the road, like @nerdywinter who shares some of the supplies she believes are essential for car life.
MotherNATEur suggests people who are dissing Dawn’s journey need to do a little soul-searching of their own.
“Don’t worry about what other people are thinking about you. Just live your life, because it’s literally your life,” she said.