Remember Lil’ Kim? Yes, the short, sassy rapper with the cute smile who rolled with Notorious B.I.G., Puff Daddy and the whole Junior Mafia clique? Lil’ Kim was known for her raunchiness on the mic and hard-hitting party lyrics.
But over the years, it’s her photos that have been getting the attention and are nearly unrecognizable of the former Kim.
In the past decade, we’ve seen Kim transform her face with several plastic surgeries–each time with more and more shocking results.
Recently, she posted new pictures of herself on her Instagram account, and Black America was shocked at first. Not only does Kim no longer look like herself, she no longer resembles a Black woman.
It looks as though she has lightened her once black-girl-brown complexion to one that’s not so brown at all. Her hair is longer, straighter, blonder. Her once round nose now thin. Even her eyes sit differently on her face. She’s changed, in ways that words can’t even begin to capture.
But why?
Several things could factor into Kim’s transformation into….I’m not sure. Low self-esteem. Possible self-hate issues. Possible self-hate issues pertaining to race. The pressure of the recording industry to adhere to a European standard of beauty. Who knows?
What I do know is that Kim doesn’t seem to have had anyone in her life, at any point, tell her simply…that she was beautiful. More importantly, I doubt if she’s ever had anyone show her she was beautiful.
Below may be the reason behind it all:
“All my life men have told me I wasn’t pretty enough–even the men I was dating. And I’d be like, ‘Well, why are you with me, then?'” Lil’ Kim confesses. “It’s always been men putting me down just like my dad. To this day when someone says I’m cute, I can’t see it. I don’t see it no matter what anybody says.”
Wow.
If you can’t believe that you’re worth anything, then how can anyone else? Medically speaking, the mind is a powerful tool that makes or break your health.
Tests have been done time and time again using people who have simply thought about getting better versus those who didn’t believe they would feel better. Using the same medical therapy across patients, 90% of those who did believe actually felt better and had a favorable feeling once leaving the hospital.
Celebrity plastic surgeon Dr. Gary Breslow tells Page Six he thinks the rapper may need help.
Although he isn’t a mental health professional, Breslow, who has not treated Kim, warns that she may be addicted to plastic surgery. “Based on how much work it appears she’s had done, and how drastically she continues to change her appearance, I would think she has a problem and needs to seek professional help,” he said.
According to Breslow, a sign of plastic surgery addiction is “seeking excessive numbers of cosmetic procedures for a given body area with a lack of satisfaction for what others would see as a good result.”
Based on photos, the doctor believes Kim has likely spent $20,000 to $25,000 on the following procedures: fillers to the
cheeks or cheek implants, rhinoplasty, a chin implant, lip augmentation and skin bleaching.
When asked about Kim’s perceived skin lightening over the years, Breslow said the effects could be harmful.
“It’s generally achieved with lightening peels or … creams and lotions that contain lightening agents,” Breslow detailed. “However, these agents can thin the skin and cause damage. Some agents may contain mercury, which can cause nerve damage.”
Lil’ Kim’s debut studio album Hard Core (1996) was certified double platinum in March 2001.[3] Since its release, it has sold more than six million copies worldwide[4] and spawned three successful singles: “No Time”, “Not Tonight (Ladies Night)”, and “Crush on You”. Hard Core had the highest debut in the US for a female rap album at the time.[5] Her following albums, The Notorious K.I.M. (2000) and La Bella Mafia (2003) were also certified platinum. In 2001, Lil’ Kim reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 with the single “Lady Marmalade” (a remake of LaBelle’s 1974 single), alongside Christina Aguilera, Mýa, and Pink. The song also won her the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. Other notable singles from this period include “The Jump Off” and “Magic Stick”, the latter of which reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming her 2nd-highest-charting single as a lead artist.
In 2005, Lil’ Kim served a one-year prison sentence for lying to a jury about her friends’ involvement in a shooting four years earlier. During her incarceration, her fourth album, The Naked Truth, was released to positive reviews from critics. A reality series covering her sentence, Lil’ Kim: Countdown to Lockdown, premiered on BET in 2006. She then released her first mixtape, Ms. G.O.A.T. (2008) and returned to the public eye in 2009 with an appearance on Dancing with the Stars. Throughout the 2010s, she continued to release music and perform sporadically, collaborating with artists such as Faith Evans, Remy Ma, and Fabolous.
So, what’s next for the Queen Bee?
While many fans are speaking out, one can only wonder what those closest to her are saying? Are they being supportive of her new look? Are they concerned for her as many of us are? Are they suggesting she get help? Whatever it is, we are praying for the health of this young, new mom (she gave birth to her first child, Royal Reign, in 2014).
No matter what her past says, black IS beautiful and we hope that Lil’ Kim still sees that.
