THE SOURCE (OCTOBER 2004) 40% of the interview. Thanks to Passions for the article
Interviewer: Tell us about Lil' Kim Cares Foundation
Lil Kim: In reference to the battered women, just recently, and I'm talking about a year ago, I got out of a relationship with a very abusive man. I've had the black eye, bloody lips, busted nose. I came out of the hospital from getting my nose done and he broke my again. I had to have MRI's because one time I was beaten so bad that I couldn't even move, and I had blood clots all in my back. I couldn't walk. One day I heard a voice actually telling me you better leave right now. I had to leave out my own damn house. If I had something like a Lil' Kim Cares Foundation, where I could get help then maybe I wouldn't have went through it for so long.
Interviewer: You wouldn't think that Lil' Kim in all her glamour and glory was at home dealing with that.
Lil Kim: I'm sharing this story because a lot of women don't think women in the industry go through it. They probably thinking we got it good but oh yeah, we go through it.
Interviewer: How did you recover from it?
Lil Kim: I kinda just prayed the whole time. That's probably how I came out of it, just by the grace of God, because at one point, I felt like I didn't know what to do. And it has a lot to do with maturity too. It's been times when I was in the car with my ex-boyfriend, and he punched me in my face and I was bleeding blood all over the car, all over my face and we were on our way to pick up his mom and I'm trying to conceal the blood, but she's staring like, I don't believe it. And then there were times when I had to be in public. It could have been like right before I had to be in the studio, or be on stage, and I had to pack on piles of makeup and go and smile. I had to practice my smile in the mirror, I remember sometimes people were looking at me like 'something's wrong with you.' And I'm saying "I had an allergic reaction."
Interviewer: Did anyone else know? Why didn't anyone step in?
Lil Kim: I remember one of the things that made me really say "this is it" is that my friends were mad at me, and they were saying "he gonna kill you." And you don't hear all of that when you love somebody. Your'e just like "he needs help, I'ma get him some help." I started noticing that my friends were backing up from me. They didn't want to be around. We were all fighting and I felt bad putting them in that. And he was so crazy, he might hit them too. Then my mom was hearing about it. I'm like "I gotta get rid of this."
Interviewer: You mentioned that he broke your nose.
Lil Kim: Yeah, I just came from getting it broke. (laughs) And he punctured it again. True story. Big cast on my face.
Interviewer: Did you get it done again after that?
Lil' Kim: Actually, I just ahd to go in again, and the doctor had to fix my nose it was almost shattered. You really can't tell, but if you look close you can. It goes to the left.
Interviewer: Now, you look much better in person, but the pictures don't always look like that. And there have been images floating around that really don't do you any justice.
Lil' Kim: I'm a bad bitch. I don't care what nobody say. I'm fly. I look good. The pictures that were coming out recently, and it's really just been recently. I kind of been going through this thing during the whole time with the court case. The first day they came and grabbed me, I had decided to get sugar injections that go in your lips. I just wanted to try it. I was supposed to get this role in this movie, I was supposed to be a character, almost like a cartoon, and I really wanted to play that character, almost like a cartoon, and I really wanted to play that character out to the fullest, so I was like, I'm gonna change my look up a lil' bit, and you know me, I don't care. It's jsut a sugar injection you get in your lips, for people who want full lips or whatever, and it goes away in six months. Well, in between that time, you have to have your healing moment,a nd I didn't know they was going to come snatch me up and put me in handcuffs and all that. So I'm on camera and everybody like "Ill!" what's wrong with Kim!, but I just laughed and laughed. (thx to Passions)
Eh... That's pretty fucked up.