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because his mother began suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, a
painful disease of the joints. The arthritis became so bad that by
the early 2000s she could no longer work, leaving Drake as the
breadwinner of the family. “My mother was very sick,” Drake re-
calls. “We were very poor, like broke. The only money I had coming
in was off of Canadian TV, which isn’t that much mon-
in was off of Canadian TV, which isn’t that much mon-
ey when you break it down. A season of Cana-
ey when you break it down. A season of Cana-
dian television is under a teacher’s salary, I’ll tell “I had to become a
you that much.” It was, however, enough man very quickly and
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for the family to survive. “I had to become a be the backbone for
man very quickly and be the backbone for a woman who I love
a woman who I love with all my heart, my with all my heart, my
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mother,” he says. mother.”
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With the success of his performance in —Drake
Degrassi, Drake came to believe that his fu-
ture was in show business. He also came to the
conclusion that there was not much more he could learn in high
school that would be useful in the career he was already pursu-
ing full time. As a result, he decided to drop out of high school
at age sixteen. It was a major life decision, although it did not
seem so at the time. One day at school, Drake was arguing with
a history teacher. Out of frustration, Drake picked up his back-
pack and walked toward the door. The teacher told him that if
he left the classroom, he should not return. Drake took that as
an excuse to do what he had been thinking about for a long
time. He dropped out.
Drake’s mother, a teacher, was not pleased with her son’s
decision. Drake later said that he did not regret dropping out
but that he might go back to school to earn a diploma, which
he would give to his mother. Ten years later he did just that,
earning his fi nal high school credits through correspondence
courses. On October 18, 2012, Drake announced on Twitter:
“97% on my fi nal exam. 88% in the course. One of the great-
est feelings in my entire life. As of tonight I have graduated high
school!” 23

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