A Los Angeles-based psychiatrist has filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against his former client Dr. Dre.
According to the legal documents obtained by TMZ, Dr. Charles Sophy claims that The Chronic and Doggystyle mastermind has been engaging in a frightening campaign of harassment and threats that has him scared to leave his gated community or even his home.
Sophy used to provide marriage counseling for Dr. Dre and his ex-wife Nicole Young. But Sophy said the music-making maestro falsely believes that he encouraged a third party to badmouth Dre to the media while the producer was in the throes of his infamous divorce from Young.
Dr. Dre counters Sophy’s claims in the media through his attorney, saying that Sophy violated the ethics of his office by encouraging one of his children to take sides against him in the divorce — all while simultaneously providing marriage counseling to Dre and Young.
The psychiatrist provided alleged receipts that show Dre allegedly harassing and threatening Sophy with text messages littered with words like “b—-” and a “piece of s—” over text and also vowing to “make you pay for that.”
Sophy said Dre even went as far as having a couple of men posing as FBI agents to try to breach his gated community and physically threaten him up close. The psychiatrist told the Los Angeles County court that he is so frightened for his safety that he never leaves the home without a bulletproof vest and a cap.
Dr. Dre, through his attorney Howard King, tells TMZ a radically different story from Sophy’s. King accuses Sophy of crossing the line when he tried to get Dre’s children to move against him to favor the ex-wife.
“Dr. Sophy filed his suit only after he failed to pressure Mr. Young into dropping efforts to get Dr. Sophy punished for dereliction of duties and incredible incompetence. These claims are set forth in detail in a confidential complaint Mr. Young filed in 2023 with the Osteopathic Medical Board of California,” King told TMZ.
“That complaint seeks revocation of Dr. Sophy’s license to provide mental health counseling to needy patients,” King continued. “In gross violation of all applicable standards of care, Dr. Sophy inserted himself into a contentious divorce while he simultaneously ‘treated’ not only Mr. and Mrs. Young, but their children.”
“He was terminated when it was revealed that he was encouraging one of their children to take sides against Mr. Young, even encouraging his son to go to the press with false allegations in order to force a financial settlement that he recommended,” King concluded the counterclaim. “Dr. Sophy has consistently rebuffed Medical Board attempts to investigate these claims, but has now filed this desperate suit while the noose of the Medical Board is tightening.”
