Ever since her 1992 multiplatinum debut album “What’s the 411?,” seven more of Mary J. Blige’s records have reached multi-platinum status. She has won nine Grammy Awards and has been nominated for 22 others. Over the course of her more than 30-year career, she has sold over 50 million albums. And at 2018's Golden Globes, Mary was nominated for best supporting actress for her role in the Netflix drama “Mudbound.”
So from music to movies to philanthropy, Mary has had success after success, but life for the superstar hasn’t had it easy.
A New York native born in the Bronx and raised in Yonkers, Blige lived in housing projects while growing up and dropped out of high school. She was no stranger to alcohol and drug abuse, both witnessing it and struggling with it herself.
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The "My Life" hit singer recently revealed that she was sexually abused. And not just once, the ordeal lasted years. When asked at the Golden Globes about the "Me Too" movement, Blige was front and center with her support.
“I’m actually happy and proud of these women,” Blige said. “It is their time; they’ve been hanging onto these things forever, for God knows how long, and now they’re speaking up and being set free.”
"I've had the fight since I was five years old. I haven't had anyone approach me like that since I've been in the music business. But from 5 to 17, I've been through hell with sexual harassment. So by the time I got into the music business, it was like, 'Don't touch me... or I'll kill you.'"
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The nine-time-Grammy-award winner has overcome a lot in her life, including drugs, alcohol and physical abuse.
"When I was five years old I was molested," Mary J. Blige said. "I remember feeling, literally, right before it happened, I just could not believe that this person was going to do this to me. That thing followed me all my life. The shame of thinking my molestation was my fault. It led me to believe I wasn't worth anything."
Blige later turned to alcohol and developed an addiction that almost ended her life. "It was bigger than me and it was definitely going to kill me. "So I was like, 'this is it [then] let's go.' I remember sitting on my bed. I swear, I don't know what death feels like but I felt like my spirit was trying to leave my body."
Since she's knows first-hand what it's like, Mary's been an advocate for women sharing their stories as a form of liberation from the pain.
"There are so many women that don't get a chance to speak in other industries that are not the film industry, the music industry. It's important for us to stand up for them so they can get a chance to speak. I am one of those women."
Mary also had to go through the drama of her very public divorce from record executive, Kendu Issacs.
According to court documents obtained by The Blast, Isaacs has “experienced physical manifestations of stress and emotional distress from this matter, which has caused him to become hospitalized.” He and Blige were locked in an ugly, very public battle over spousal support after she filed for divorce in July 2016.
The Blast also reported that in the documents Isaacs claims he is “unemployable” and cannot pay his rent...
... without the monetary support, he receives from Blige.
In June 2017, Blige was ordered to pay her estranged husband $30,000 per month in temporary spousal support. When she filed for divorce — citing irreconcilable differences — the singer had asked to terminate the court’s ability to award spousal support to Isaacs.
According to PEOPLE, court documents claimed Isaacs spent more than $420,000 during their marriage on “travel charges” that involved a woman he was having an affair with, not her.
Blige also claimed that Isaacs drives a Mercedes that she pre-paid the lease on and that he refused to turn over possession of her “Grammy and other achievement awards.”
The singer went on to say that she has long been the only bread-winner in the family and she is burdened with all of the debts, which she claimed total more than $10,000,000.
While the couple had no children together, Blige had been a stepmother to Kendu’s children – Briana, Jordan, and Nas – from a former relationship since they wed in 2003.
The divorce was made final in 2018 and Mary is happier and wiser from it.
Blige, in a recent exclusive chat with Vogue, detailed how even though she may be single, she's not siting home feeling sorry for herself. In fact, Blige now takes self-care seriously.
She made it known to Vogue that she was learning more about "self-love" and putting her lessons to good use, saying,
"I’m learning what true love for myself means—which is getting along with myself, loving myself, appreciating myself, and not beating myself up... "
