Tupac broke up with Madonna over race, reveals letter

Late rapper Tupac Shakur broke up with singer Madonna because she is white, reveals a newly released letter. Madonna said in 2015 that she dated Tupac before his 1996 death, but didn't explain why they split. The 1995 letter, published by TMZ on Wednesday, explains the reason, reports usatoday.com.

Written from prison at 4.30 am, the letter to Madonna begins with an apology. "I haven't been the kind of friend I know I am capable of being," wrote Tupac, who spent nine months in prison for sexual abuse.

He went on to say that people might have seen Madonna as "open and exciting" for being "seen with a black man". However, he said, people wouldn't think the same of him for dating her.

"But for me... I felt due to my ‘image' I would be letting down half of the people who made me what I thought I was," he wrote. The letter appears to be a plea for reconciliation.

Tupac wrote that he wanted a "stronger and more focused" friendship with her, and said that he "never meant to hurt" her. According to the letter, he felt that he had grown as a person, and no longer cared how others saw him.

He closed by asking Madonna to visit him. He said he had learned "to not take time (for) granted". Madonna has yet to speak publicly about the letter.

The letter will be available at the Gotta Have Rock and Roll auction from July 19-28, according to Rolling Stone. He died after being shot in 1996. He was 25.