Ziggy Marley Discusses Documentary, Father's Affairs

Yesterday, Marley, was released and is the first family authorized documentary about the life of the late, great Bob Marley.  The film was directed by Academy Award-winner Kevin Macdonald and executive produced by Ziggy Marley, the reggae legend’s eldest son.

Recently, Ziggy discussed his involvement with the film and revealed some interesting facts about his family.  He explained that the Marley family was “involved from the get-go with facilitating everything that was happening in the film, including speaking to people to let them know our involvement with this to ensure that it was cool to talk to this producer. And everyone was being very open because they knew that we were a part of this thing and it wasn’t some random person trying to make a film about Bob. They knew that this would be the real deal. “

They also chose to release the film on April 20^th, otherwise known as 4/20 for those who support the use of marijuana.  Of this choice, Ziggy said:  Yeah, I think 4/20 is a special day. Of course, with our culture we use herb for so many different things not just for smoking. I think it’s something that we’re not going to hide from, and I think it’s appropriate because it’s a part of our culture and a part of Bob’s music. If you love Bob’s music, well guess what, herb is a part of Bob’s music.”

One topic that will be covered in the film is the fact that Bob Marley had extramarital affairs while he was married to Ziggy’s mother, Rita.  Ziggy explained that it wasn’t very challenging to have that discussed in the documentary and added: “We just wanted to make sure that everything remained in perspective. And that in no way anything that we did in terms of that subject would be disrespectful to his wife and our mother. So we had to keep everything in perspective and make sure it was done as respectful as it can be. My mother was very cordial in speaking about it and just telling people the truth about how the relationship was with her and Bob.”

The relationship of a couple where one or both parties is famous and away from home often is very unique and, one can only imagine, that they just do the best that they can.  This documentary should be very interesting in that respect.

Anyone who is interested in keeping up with Ziggy can tune into his satellite radio show, “The Legends of Reggae.”