A boyfriend leaving to run errands could make Doja Cat fear the relationship was ending. In a May 14, 2026 interview, she described the thought as “my brain thinks he’s breaking up with me.” She linked that fear to her father’s departure during her childhood.
Doja has described how deeply his absence affected the way she saw herself: “I hated myself because my fuckin dad left me and it scarred me for life.” That came in response to an X user claiming that she hated herself for being black, and is now trying to claim that label back. They were also referencing her racial roleplay controversy.
Leaked Tinychat footage showed Doja Cat in public chat rooms that internet users linked to alt-right, incel, and white supremacist spaces. She was accused of participating in “race play,” stripping for white supremacists, and using racial slurs.
Doja Cat pushed back in a written statement and on Instagram Live, strongly denying the accusations. She said she’s used public chat rooms to socialize since she was a kid and admitted she “shouldn’t have been on some of those sites,” but she denied taking part in or even witnessing any racist conversations. She also rejected the “race play” claims, saying that while she is kinky, she never engaged in racial fetishes.
Her father is Dumisani Dlamini, the South African actor and dancer who played Crocodile in Sarafina! alongside Whoopi Goldberg. In an October 2019 radio interview, Doja said she’d never met him and didn’t know him well. She recalled wanting to see him around age 13 and described making music as therapeutic.
The following month, meeting Goldberg backstage at Late Night with Seth Meyers brought that family connection into the conversation. Doja spoke with her about the father she said she’d never met.