(Credits: Far Out / Motown Museum / Alamy)
Mon 30 March 2026 21:30, UK
Diana Ross and Berry Gordy: two sonic soulmates who changed the course of music history with Motown, but who were completely incompatible with each other.
From a relationship that started with Gordy being the voice of God in determining the fate of Ross and her bandmates in The Supremes, to a tumultuous romance that created a daughter but a lot of tension in between, it’s fair to say that the pair were prolific together. It’s a miracle they could even still stand the sight of each other by the end.
Yet there was no denying the fact that despite all their dramas, Gordy and Ross sustained as the pillars of Motown because there was a bedrock of true devotion between them, no matter how bad it looked from the outside. “She was my baby,” Gordy once famously said. “I loved all of my artists, but I was in love with Diana Ross.”
That much was certainly true, with a near 15-year age gap between the pair proving no initial roadblock to their partnership, and with their daughter, Rhonda Ross, arriving in 1971. However, it has to be said – this was the boss of Motown, in a relationship with one of its undisputed biggest stars. Things weren’t always going to be rosy.
It was clear from an early stage that this was a relationship set for the cameras as much as themselves. Even in terms of the birth of their daughter, no one knew Gordy was the real father, as they had already broken up by that point. The 1960s had been the height of stardom, but the ‘70s presented new challenges. Then came Mahogany.
The year was 1975, and given that Ross had left The Supremes to venture out on her own solo career a little while prior, it seemed the perfect opportunity for her to bring Motown to the big screen – Mahogany, where she starred as a struggling fashion designer yearning to make it to Rome, was all set with director Tony Richardson on board.
But then, after one thing led to another, Richardson was fired, and Gordy was brought in to steer the ship. Directing his former lover and leading lady proved, for obvious reasons, to be a major stumbling block. He didn’t have the experience as a filmmaker, and she, quite frankly, had too much ego.
The tensions bubbled over to a point where, one day, exasperated by Gordy’s micromanagement, Ross reportedly slapped him across the face. In one deft move, the dynamics of Motown were changed forever as the founder was slammed back in his place, and the true ruler emerged from that kingdom.
Although the pair were able to eventually reconcile on a personal level, it was a terrible piece of foreshadowing for the fate of the film. Largely panned by critics and not exactly going down as one of Motown’s historic gems, there was no love lost over it on the whole. But even through it all, the fiery relationship between Gordy and Ross meant the flames never fully died.
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