Salt N’ Pepa’s, Cheryl “Salt” James, was married to the father of her two children, Gavin Wray, for eighteen years (2000 – 2018), and they dated for 10 years prior. Interestingly, Gavin’s character as a man attracted Salt to him far before they’d ever met…and it had everything to do with the heroic thing he’d done for their mutual friend, Sandy “Pepa” Denton.
In Pepa’s memoir, Let’s Talk About Pep,’ she recalled an extremely scary incident when Gavin put his own life in jeopardy, so she and her baby could escape a murderer who’d come THIS close to doing all of them in! It happened around the time of their 1990 “Let’s Talk About Sex” fame and Pepa’s counting her blessings to this day. Below are excerpts of Pep’ breaking down that incident…
Pepa stopped to holla at Gavin…
Pepa: “I saw [Salt’s then-husband] Gavin near this park and I pulled over to talk to him. … That week, this neighborhood guy had just gotten out of jail, and he went on a killing spree. He killed about ten people in a grocery store and was on the run.”
Here’s What Pepa’s Says Happened When She & Salt’s Ex Encountered The ‘Killer’
Pepa couldn’t believe that as she was talking to Gavin (pictured above with then-wife, Salt), they came face to face with the ‘killer’ and her baby, Tyran, was in danger:
“The cops were looking for him. Helicopters were swirling around, and this murderer came up to Me and tried to get into my car. ‘No,no!’ I started screaming. “Let me get my baby out, let me get my baby!’
I didn’t care about the car, I wasn’t going to let him drive off with my baby.”
Unfortunately, the murderer didn’t listen to Pep’s plea:
“He knocked me to the ground. This guy was big and buff… I was crying and screaming and trying to pull on this giant man to stop him from taking my car with my baby in it.”
“Gavin started cursing this guy out. ‘You pu$$y! You sucker-a$$ pu$$y! Hey punk!’ Gavin was trying anything to get this man to stop what he was doing, and it was working. His pride couldn’t take Gavin calling him a pu$$y, and it was making him mad and Gavin kept breaking on him. He finally started going after Gavin.
‘Pep, go, go!’ Gavin screamed as soon as the man moved away from the car. I immediately jumped in, but I didn’t want to pull off because I just knew this guy was going to kill Gavin.
The man stopped going after Gavin when he realized what was happening. But it was too late. ‘Pep, go!’ Gavin said.”
Then The Situation Grew Even More Dangerous
Pepa did as Gavin told her to. But here’s how Gavin narrowly escaped death afterwards:
“I jumped in my car and pulled off. Gavin isn’t a fighter. He was kind of skinny and he wasn’t really a street dude. But he was quick thinking and saved my baby’s life. I saw Gavin take off running. He might fake you out, but he never punks out.
The murderer guy must have sensed that if he chased Gavin and beat him to death, there was a good possibility that he would get caught. So he decided to run in the other direction. They caught him a week later. But I will never forget Gavin for that, and I couldn’t thank him enough.”
After that terrifying ordeal, Pep’ and Gavin’s friendship grew tighter, and she respected him so much, that she decided to hook him up with her friend, Salt:
“I had told Cheryl (Salt) all kinds of stories about him before they even met, and by the time they did meet, he was already a hero in her mind. I knew they would hit it off.”
And the rest is history!
