Skylar Grey Sold Catalog Of Hit Songs, Including 'Love The Way You Lie,' To Pay For Divorce

After her split from her ex-husband Todd Mandel, singer Skylar Grey faced the harsh reality of a divorce procedure and its outrageous expenses.

The divorce case between the twosome, pending since 2017, was ultimately finalized in 2021. Due to the legal requirements, Grey had been unable to speak about the situation until lately. She's also had to overcome the difficult task of psychologically getting in shape after the divorce took a toll on her financially and emotionally.

With that legal shackle now off her back, the singer has confessed to selling her entire catalog to resolve the financial commitments of her protracted divorce, resulting in her losing any more payments that will come from its royalty rights.

In an interview with Variety, Grey, whose credits include Rihanna and Eminem's "Love The Way You Lie," Diddy's "Coming Home," and Dr. Dre's "I Need A Doctor," talked about her separation from ex-husband Todd Mandel.

Grey said that she had to sell her song catalog to get any funds to pay the divorce settlement. The majority of her profits, she claims, went to taxes and her ex-husband's bank account.

"That [divorce] was just wrecking me emotionally and financially," she said in the interview.

"This past year, 2021, we finally resolved it, settled, I had to sell my catalog in order to afford the settlement, which was very sad in a way, because those songs like 'Love The Way You Lie' and 'Coming Home,' those are my babies. But at the same time, nobody can't tell me I didn't write those songs, just because I don't own the rights to them anymore."

Grey has written for several performers, an act that is quite popular in the music industry. Along with her smash songs for Eminem and P.Diddy, she has also penned songs for Kehlani, G-Eazy, Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Zedd, Nick Jonas, Céline Dion, and CeeLo Green.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uelHwf8o7_U

The singer added that selling the songs was tough on her and that she never wanted to do it in the first place. However, it was the only logical route to ending the protracted legal case hence she took the decision.

"I didn't want to sell them," Grey added. "But it was my only way to put the past behind me."

The financial ramifications of the artist selling the catalog are that she will no longer be compensated in any way when the song is used in any media form.

"Every time one of those songs gets used in a movie or whatever, I don't see any of that money anymore," she said.

Losing "Love the Way You Lie," one of her most popular songs, is a major setback as the song is certified Diamond and has over two billion YouTube views since its debut in 2010.

Grey's hasty determination to put the divorce behind her stems from a desire to break all links with Mandel as soon as possible. In 2017, the singer, who was previously separated but not divorced from him, had to get a restraining order against him, claiming that he had performed some acts of harassment.

"[Mendel had] been stalking me and is following and monitoring me and my boyfriend; that he installed hidden cameras and recording devices in my apartment to eavesdrop and watch us," the court documents revealed (via People).

The singer also stated that "he hired a private investigator and multiple attorneys, who have been tracking and investigating me and my boyfriend." Grey was eventually given the restraining order, and Mandel was told to keep at least 100 yards away from Gray, her boyfriend Elliott Taylor, 28, and her assistant.

Divorce is notoriously tough in most instances, and it becomes increasingly difficult when one of the parties is a celebrity, given that the sharing of properties might prompt bitter spats. Grey, thankfully, now appears to be well on her way to emotional recovery, having just released a new self-titled album, which she describes as a "cathartic release" following her divorce.

"It's expressing a lot of emotions I felt over however many years it's been," she said as per Page Six. "And it was hard, it was a lot of turmoil, depression, I was going through a lot of shit. So this album, I feel like reflects those emotions and the things that I was going through."

The new project which debuted in April 2022, serves as her fourth full-length offering and first independent album since she dropped "Natural Causes" in 2016. It spans 33 minutes and consists of ten songs including, "Partly Cloudy With A Chance Of Tears," "Vampire At The Swimming Pool," "Falling Apart," "Destroyer," and "Show Me Where It Hurts."