Jan Adams, 64, who operated on Kanye West‘s mom, Donda West during the final surgery before her death in 2007, may be on the next cover of Yeezy’s album. The rapper took to Twitter on Apr. 28 and shared a shocking screenshot of one of his text message conversations that revealed he was going to put a serious pic of Jan on his next album because he wants to “forgive and stop hating”. Here’s everything you should know about the plastic surgeon who may be at the center of Kanye’s new music.
1.) He attended Harvard University and Ohio State University before he studied plastic and reconstructive surgery at the University of Michigan. He went on to complete his surgical training at UCLA and was the first fellow in aesthetic surgery. In addition to performing plastic surgeries, he authored scientific journals and books, including the journal titled “Late Infection Following Aesthetic Malar Augmentation with Proplast Implants” with Dr. Henry Kawamoto and his first book, Everything Women of Color Should Know About Cosmetic Surgery which was published in 2000.
2.) He gained national exposure after appearing on several popular talk shows for television. Some of his gigs included working as a correspondent on Extra as well as starring on the daytime talk show, The Other Half with Dick Clark, Danny Bonaduce and Mario Lopez. He also appeared on the prestigious Oprah Winfrey Show.
3.) After the death of Donda, he spoke out to defend himself from the accusations that her demise was due to his wrongdoing. He appeared on Larry King Live in Jan. 2008 and talked about how the exposure of Donda’s death and the wrongful beliefs caused his practice to almost be destroyed.
4.) In a 2015 interview, he called out Kanye and blamed Kanye’s cousin, Stephen Scoggins, who was taking care of Donda after her final surgery, for her death. “It baffles me when nobody wants to know the truth,” he said to the Daily News. “I think (Kanye) should stand up and tell the truth, and the truth will set you free. I think the truth needs to be out there. If he had any b—s or if he was any kind of man he could (speak up). But the real answer is he probably won’t.” He went on to claim that Stephen, a registered nurse with a Ph.D, didn’t properly care for Donda after her surgery, which included liposuction, a tummy-tuck and breast reduction, and that although he advised Stephen that her post-op care should be treated in a private facility, he went against it. “Most people that I run into think she died on the table, they don’t even know this lady was home for a day,” he continued to tell the outlet. “The truth hasn’t been revealed. She aspirated the food contents into her lungs and that’s that. And four minutes later you’re dead. Jimi Hendrix, that’s how he died. It ain’t magical.” The coroner who performed the autopsy on Donda concluded that he couldn’t determine what exactly caused her death but confirmed that vomiting and medications for pain were contributing factors.
5.) In 2001, two malpractice lawsuits against him ended in payouts and before and after the infamous surgery, he had multiple DUI offenses. After being arrested for a DUI and driving without a license in 2008, he was sentenced to one year in jail in Jan. 2009. He later surrendered his California medical license in Apr. 2009 for having alcohol-related convictions. It was reinstated in Mar. 2013 with probationary restrictions but was revoked again in Oct. 2014 due to his failure in complying with the probation terms.