As attention grows on his past altercations, the music mogul apologises to "the women I've hurt".
Dr Dre has issued a statement apologising to "the women I've hurt" - without specifically acknowledging claims he violently attacked women.
The 50-year-old music mogul's statement to the New York Times comes as attention builds on the decades-old allegations.
Newly released biopic Straight Outta Compton about N.W.A, the influential rap group that made Dre famous, omits any mentions of the claims.
The most prominent incident happened in 1991 when Dre allegedly attacked music journalist Dee Barnes at a nightclub.
He was reportedly angry at her for a segment she hosted on N.W.A featuring Ice Cube, who had just left the group.
Barnes claimed Dre slammed her head against a wall, kicked her, stomped on her fingers and tried to throw her down a flight of stairs.
Dre - real name Andre Young - pleaded no contest to criminal battery charges. He was reportedly sentenced to community service and probation, while a civil suit was settled out of court.
Asked about the attack at the time, Dre told Rolling Stone: "I just did it, you know. Ain't nothing you can do now by talking about it. Besides, it ain't no big thing - I just threw her through a door."
Two other women, Dre's former girlfriend Michel'le and musician Tairrie B, also claim he violently assaulted them.
Dr Dre's statement to the New York Times on Friday said: "Twenty-five years ago I was a young man drinking too much and in over my head with no real structure in my life.
"However, none of this is an excuse for what I did. I've been married for 19 years and every day I'm working to be a better man for my family, seeking guidance along the way.
"I'm doing everything I can so I never resemble that man again."
He added: "I apologise to the women I've hurt. I deeply regret what I did and know that it has forever impacted all of our lives."
Apple - who Dre now works for after the tech firm bought his Beats Electronics company for $3bn last year - also defended him in a statement to the paper.
"Dre has apologised for the mistakes he's made in the past and he's said that he's not the same person that he was 25 years ago," Apple said.
"We believe his sincerity and after working with him for a year-and-a-half, we have every reason to believe that he has changed."
This week Ms Barnes published a story online about the 1991 incident following the release of Straight Outta Compton, which has become a box office hit.
"Like many of the women that knew and worked with N.W.A., I found myself a casualty of Straight Outta Compton's revisionist history," she wrote on Gawker.
Straight Outta Compton director F Gary Gray has been asked why his film does not include the Barnes incident.
"You can make five N.W.A movies with all the information that is out there... We couldn't get everything in," he said.
After N.W.A, Dre co-founded Death Row Records and went on to produce some of the biggest names in hip hop.
He was named the world's top earning musician by Forbes last year.
He released an album this month called Compton: A Soundtrack to coincide with the release of the biopic.
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