Lelee on where she came from…

My story is a long story. It’s just being in the neighborhoods I was in. Just being in the Bronx and just settling. I can’t speak for all the girls in the Bronx, but when I was in high school, everything…was a struggle and it was about survival.

Was your father there?

My father left when I was 10. I was rebellious after that. I didn’t understand why he left and he was dating all these different women. Like, I’ve actually gone with my father to other women’s houses and I’m like, ‘oh that’s what that was.’ He was cheating.

Cheating on your mom? Were they married?
Yeah they were married and it was just really bad. I had a really bad childhood. So even now I still live out of a bag because…as a child I would come home, I didn’t know whether or not I was going to be able to get in the door; if my mom had paid the rent or not. And even now it’s affecting me as an adult because I’m so scared that I’m gonna get evicted or get put out or somebody’s following me. It’s crazy. It was just my mind-frame being that we came from a very unstable household.

How many kids were there?
There was five.

Five? Five girls? Your mother had to deal with five girls?!
Yes. So my hustle was the local drug dealer, you know? How I ate lunch was to go on a date with them. I worked. I had my first child at 15.

So you would go on a date with the local guy?
Yeah, you know, ’cause I was kinda cute when I was younger.

You’re cute now.
I would be walking down the street. I was fascinated with the cars and stuff, so I got a few beeps-a few horn beeps. I was looking at it as survival, as my next meal. It was that.

What was your mom doing?
My mom had a job. She was a housekeeper making $8.50 an hour. She made no money. When my mother passed away, the little money I made from being in the group or whatever, I paid for my mom’s funeral. She had no insurance-nothing. Absolutely nothing. I didn’t know this as a child.

When the group stopped, what did you do to eat?
Well it was very, very difficult because I went through a whole lot of emotional issues because it was almost like-when we broke up-like a marriage (breaking up). I mean I have worked jobs, I went to school, and I did what I had to do. And it was hard but I had to separate the woman from the entertainer. The woman in me said I had to get off my ass and take care of my kids. So I had to deal with all the BS-people looking at me like, “She’s a has-been”- and I dealt with all of that. That actually helped me become the person that I am today, because I am so delivered from people. It’s nothing anybody can say to really get me to that falling point.

What kind of jobs did you have?
Accounting. I went to school and got my associate’s degree in accounting. I thought I was pretty good.

LeLee on how things started to get bad while SWV were still together…
When we were out, our team sucked. I mean from lawyers to accountants, I ain’t gonna tell you how much money they done ripped me off for, you know? And all of that stuff affected my kids, I mean, it was bad. I was living in my truck and it was so bad. I would go to different clubs just to meet people so I could have a place to stay for the night. But nobody knew.

What kind of people?