Home / Arts and Entertainment / Bestselling Author Reunites Tupac's Muse with Her Long-Lost Son After 34 Years
Bestselling Author Reunites Tupac's Muse with Her Long-Lost Son After 34 Years
25 Oct
Summary
- Tupac's song "Brenda's Got a Baby" inspired by true story
- Bestselling author Jeff Pearlman tracked down the baby's mother and son
- Mother and son reunited after 34 years apart
In 2025, bestselling author Jeff Pearlman revealed the remarkable story behind Tupac's classic song "Brenda's Got a Baby." The track, which addressed teen pregnancy in America's ghettos, was inspired by a true news story that Tupac came across while filming his breakout role in the movie Juice.
Pearlman, who recently published a book on Tupac's life, shared that he was able to track down the man who heard the baby crying in the trash chute. This led him to Leila Steinberg, a former associate manager of Tupac, who made a comment about the veracity of the story. Pearlman then enlisted the help of a genealogist to locate the baby, now a 34-year-old man named Davonn Hodge, living in Las Vegas.
The story took an even more unexpected turn when Pearlman's team also found Davonn's mother, who was living in Newark, New Jersey. She was attending a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert in Las Vegas when she was reunited with her long-lost son. The emotional reunion occurred just last night, over three decades after the events that inspired Tupac's iconic song.
