Looking at the lifestyles of the rich and famous, it would seem that they have it all. Money, fame, beauty, devoted partners and adorable children. Things aren’t always as they appear. Pictures and interviews can’t tell the full picture of a person’s life. While celebrities and celebrity kids kept their family dynamics and secrets close to the vest back in the day, we’re living in a different time now. Not only is there social media, the conversation around wellness, trauma and dysfunction is stronger than it’s ever been. In this new climate, these 7 celebrity kids shared the truth of what it was like growing up with famous parents. And the words weren’t always positive. See what the following people had to say.
Selah Marley
In 2020, Selah Marley hopped on Instagram Live and spoke for two hours about what it was like growing up. Marley, the daughter of singer Lauryn Hill and entrepreneur Rohan Marley, shared that her father was not as present as she would have liked him to be. Then she described the affects of Lauryn’s physical discipline. “And then the threats, the constant threats… That belt, man,” Selah said. “That’s that slave sh*t. That was some slavery shit. All Black parents were on that sh*t.”
She also shared that while her mother is an amazing woman, she was often angry.
“She was just very angry. So, so, so, so, so, so angry. She was literally not easy to talk to and then half the time we didn’t live with her. I lived with my grandparents half the time… It’s crazy, I’m playing this trauma back in my head as I speak to you.”
Selah said she was processing a lot of trauma as a result of her childhood.
Zonnique
Earlier this year, Zonnique appeared on the Jay Hill Podcast where she spoke candidly about her relationship with Tiny and how her marriage to rapper T.I. stood in the way of their mother-daughter dynamic. She shared that the demands of Tiny’s career being in Xscape was challenging for her. “When I was a kid, I was like, ‘I wish my mom would come off the road and I want my dad out of prison.’ And after a while, it was my life. You just become numb to it. I don’t hold that against her that she was on the road and doing all those things. I guess I would have liked to have those mommy-daughter moments.”
While her mother is not on the road as much as she used to be, Zonnique said there is still something…or someone monopolizing her mother’s attention: her mother’s relationship with husband T.I.
“I would say what hurt me, honestly, my mom being with TIP all the time. Like even now, today, that’s how it is. They’re just tied to the hip. It’s like they’d rather go places with each other, so anytime he gotta go, she gotta go too.”
Lisa Simone
Lisa Simone, daughter of the legendary Nina Simone, who is also a singer, songwriter and Broadway star, said that she both adored and feared her mother, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Lisa first noticed the change in her mother once she separated from her father. She was going through a messy divorce and she was angry. Sadly, she took it out on her daughter, with violence. There were beatings, jealousy and even extremely cruel words. For her 16th birthday, Nina sent her daughter a card with a note inside. It read: “I curse the day you were born.”
Aoki Lee Simmons
Russell Simmons’ character has been called into question in the public eye for years now. But in terms of his familial relationships, we didn’t know what was going on. Until this summer. It began when Ming Lee Simmons wished her mother Kimrora Lee a Happy Father’s Day. From there, Kimora came out with some tea about her relationship with her ex-husband. Then Aoki joined in speaking about the lack of support, financial, physical and emotional, from Russell. She said he disrespects their mother and harasses and attacks his children. She shared screenshots and voice recordings as proof. She shared that before his “media issues” he was the best dad ever. But today she believes her father will not accept help.
Christian Walker
Christian Walker may look innocent. But this is the face of a man who likely took down a whole political campaign. It just so happened to be his father’s. Herschel Walker was running for US Senate in the state of Georgia. The former football player ran as a Right-winged Republican, with conservative values. He did not support abortion. But Christian, his son, hopped online to call his father a hypocrite. Not only did he accuse him of being absent to Christian and his various other children, he also revealed that his father reimbursed a woman after she aborted his child. Christian said the whole campaign was a lie. It worked because the elder Walker lost the very tight race to Rev. Raphael Warnock.
Coi Leray
Coi Leray has certainly followed her father Benzino’s footsteps. While audiences today know him from “Love and Hip Hop” fame, he began his career in the public eye as a rapper and producer. As Coi Leray’s stardom began to rise, she detailed the relationship with her father in her music. In her song, “No More Parties,” she wrote: My daddy let me down, but I promise you I won’t let up/I wanna say f*ck that man, but that shit won’t make me better.” Benzino didn’t appreciate the shout out and got online with his own comments. The two went back and forth publicly, with Leray saying her father was financially irresponsible, was absent and using her to increase his own profile. She said she was “embarrassed to be his daughter.” Since then, it seems the two have made amends.
Buku Abi
Being the child of R. Kelly comes with a lot of extra baggage. So much so that his daughter, born Joann Kelly, changed her name in order to find her own path in the music industry. Buku Abi said that from middle school, her father’s proclivities became the talk of her peers. In addition to the chatter, their relationship has had its challenges. The father and daughter sang about their strained relationship in a song together in 2015 called “Wanna Be There.” “At that time I was in a place where I was genuinely trying to have a relationship with my father,” she said. “But it was so complicated at that time, as it always is. It was a great experience, I’m glad that I did it, but it just wasn’t like what everybody assumed, and that’s the part that sucks. It wasn’t this big kumbaya moment.”