JACKIE Peace is the mom of the late Rob Peace, who sold drugs to fund his father’s legal case while studying at Yale University.
Her son’s story will be dramatized in a Netflix film named after him, which will land on the streaming platform on November 11, 2024.
Life as a single mom
Rob was born in Orange, New Jersey and raised alone by Jackie, since she had separated from his father.
According to an autobiography written by her son’s college roommate, she did not want Rob to be around his father while he dealt drugs.
However, when Douglas was jailed for killing two people, Jackie took her son to see him once a week so they could keep up their relationship.
Rob began to show signs of being academically gifted and was nicknamed “the professor” at the age of 3.
Jackie took on several jobs so she could earn enough money to send him to a Catholic school.
The education he received there allowed him to excel academically and he earned himself a place at Yale University to study biology.
Originally, Rob wanted to go to Johns Hopkins but Jackie was unable to submit the application on time because she had been made to work late for wearing the wrong hairnet at work.
Rob goes to Yale
At Yale, Rob moved in with Jeff Hobbs who would later write his biography entitled The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace.
Rob excelled at university, but eventually decided to sell cannabis on campus to fund his dad’s legal battle.
His efforts paid off and Douglas’ case was dismissed, but the decision was eventually overturned and he was jailed once again.
Rob continued to sell drugs after his father’s case was overturned, but decided to send some of the profits to his mother, though she eventually asked him to stop sending her money.
Eventually, Douglas died in prison after a prolonged battle with cancer.
A new start and a sad end
He decided to quit selling cannabis and returned to his old high school, St Benedict, where he became a science teacher.
The Yale graduate loved his new job and he was even awarded teacher of the year, but soon things took a turn for the worse.
A real-estate venture gone-wrong put him into debt and the only way he could see himself paying it off was by selling drugs.
Rob was murdered in a drug-related incident on May 18, 2011.
A movie about her son
The Academy Award nominated actor and director Chiwetel Ejiofor was chosen to write and direct a film about Rob’s life.
When he took on the project, Chiwetel asked for Jackie’s advice when making the film and chatted to her for hours in the Peace’s family home.
Eventually, it was decided that the film would be named Rob Peace, in honor of her son.
She attended the film’s premiere with Chiwetel, who also played her husband in the film, and Jay Will who played her late son.
The movie Rob Peace will land on Netflix on November 11, 2024.
