The proudest achievement of Drake’s career
Drake’s public persona is certainly confident and sure of himself, so you might expect that, in response to being asked about his proudest achievement, he might bring up one of his many successes in his music career. But, in actual fact, he’s inclined to speak about something much more down-to-earth.
During the early stages of his career, Drake’s mother suffered from bad health, and it deeply worried him. “My mom is sick,” he once said in an MTV documentary. “So that scares me a lot.”
He went on to describe his mother as the “most supportive person I’ve ever had in my life—the only person that loves me unconditionally, really,” and, really, he just gave the impression of a concerned son worried about losing a beloved parent. There was nothing else to it.
Drake’s mother took a turn for the worse in 2010, and, as a result, he was forced to postpone a planned European tour. “Despite my best hopes,” he said in a statement explaining the news, “it is apparent that my mother will need surgery earlier than anticipated.”
He said that he would be cancelling his gigs “in order to support her during her recovery, just as she supported me through the years.”
Drake is dedicated to his mother, and, of all the successes that he has achieved throughout his life, it is helping his mother through her illness that had brought him the most pride. As he explained to i-D in 2012, she “needed a very expensive surgery on her spine” and, because he was “to earn money at a very important time in my life,” he was able to pay for it and provide her with “more years on her life.”
“I don’t know if we would have been able to get the same doctor and the same treatment had I not worked hard enough to make that money,” he said. “So, that is what I’m most proud of, that my mother is here and she’s healthier than ever and taking vacations and smiling.”
The surgery was clearly a success, as exemplified by the fact that, earlier this very week, Drake shared photos on Instagram to mark her 66th birthday. So many years after those health issues caused Drake to pull out of his European tour, she seems to be doing great.
“More time with family and friends…” Drake captioned the post.