Dawn Robinson is "proud" to be sleeping in her car

She told People magazine: "We don't give ourselves enough credit for the things that we do, and we doubt ourselves. It's like, 'Oh, wow. Could I ever sleep in my car? If I ever had to do that, could I?'

"I love [my mom] I could have put my head down, be quiet and do as she says, but I didn't do that."

After leaving her parents' house, Dawn's former manager suggested she move to Los Angeles, and she stayed with him for some time before relocating to a hotel while looking for an apartment, but her search proved unsuccessful as he allegedly disapproved of the places she chose.

She said: "I could have stayed, like I said, in that hotel and let him continue to pay and pay and pay and pay. [I chose to] take control of my situation.

"I'm proud of what I've done... Every day I have to make this work, and I have done it quite well."

The 'Free Your Mind' hitmaker loves the "freedom" of living in her car and recalled how she was a "road girl" back in her En Vogue days.

She said: "When we were on the road, if we had a chance to take a flight because the trip was going to be long, like a 24-hour trip on the bus, we would stay on the bus, me and Terry [Ellis].

"Car life, until you're in it, you don't know the freedom of what it is.

"From the outside, the perception is that it's a very small compact car, and it's not. Inside, it's very roomy."

Dawn, 58, thinks people would "be surprised" by how much space she has in her car, which features a foldable twin mattress in the back and has been weatherstripped to protect her from the rain, but she admitted there are some drawbacks.

She explained: "It's really just every day having to go into the gym and shower there as opposed to just walking into your own bathroom at home."

"It's also not being able to cook."

Noting she eats in restaurants every day, she added: "I have a former mother-in-law, and my friend, sister-slash-assistant... They keep me going, and I have their help."

Dawn has no plans to change her situation just yet.

She said: "This is a very healing time for me. I literally pray a lot. I talk to God. I cry about my mother. I get a lot of that out because I have to heal that part of me.

"When I build my career to where I want it to be, and when I have a resurgence of my career, that's when I'll decide that it's going to be enough of my car life, and I will be in my house or my apartment."