Vanilla Ice Spends Night in Cooler
January 5 -- Rapper Vanilla Ice spent a night in the slammer after he was arrested Wednesday following a domestic violence dispute, according to The Associated Press.
The rapper, whose hit "Ice, Ice Baby" sold 15 million copies in 1990, was driving with his wife on Interstate 595 in Davie, Fla., when he placed his hand over her mouth "to shut her up," police told the news service. He has admitted to pulling out some of her hair but claimed it was done to keep her from jumping out of the truck's window, the AP reported.
His wife told police she was afraid of her husband, whose real name is Robert Van Winkle, and that the couple's children witnessed the offense, according to the report.
Van Winkle, 32, was released from Broward County Jail yesterday on $3,500 bail and told the AP that the affair was "a heated argument."
"It's not that big of a deal," he said. "I would never hit my wife or any girl or anything like that … I love my wife, I love my kids, my life's fine, everything's good, no hitting, no drugs."
Davie Police Lt. Rick Smith told the news service that prosecutors have three weeks to file charges in the case.
The rapper, who has never again approached the success of his '90 debut, To the Extreme, suffered a popular backlash and quietly morphed through different styles in the '90s. His latest album, 1998's Hard to Swallow, is a rap-rock fusion. He is looking for a label to release Scabz, his new LP, which features guest appearances from members of Insane Clown Posse, Soulfly, and Public Enemy.
Related Stories
ABC News Live