Credit: Jamal Bayette
Karrine with her son Naiim.
|
ESSENCE.com: Confessions of a Video Vixen had to have offended some of the big names you mentioned in the book. Did anyone come after you?
Karrine Steffans: Nobody was irate. The only people I heard from were Diddy's attorneys, who reached out to my attorney four months before the book came out. I suppose it was because he knew what I knew. We just told them to wait until the book dropped, and if they had an issue with it we would deal with it then, but I never heard from them again.
ESSENCE.com: During an interview with the host of the Miss Jones in the Morning show in New York to promote Confessions, she surprised you by putting Kool G Rap, the father of your son, Naiim, on the phone to confront you, and you ran out of the studio crying. Why?
K.S.: When you hear the voice of your abuser, it freaks you out. I felt like I was 17 all over again. Hearing his voice reminded me of his 280-pound frame hitting me with my son in my hands. It caused me to have a panic attack.
ESSENCE.com: Miss Jones has a new book in stores now and many have compared it to Confessions. Have you read it?
K.S.: No, I haven't, but here's what new Yorkers don't understand. Living in California, we don't care what you're doing up there. Miss Jones is local. The truth is that nobody cares. Nobody in L.A., nobody in China cares.
ESSENCE.com: Are there certain individuals you won't write about because they are powerful enough to ruin your life?
K.S.: There are lots of people I protect. Confessions was easier for me to write because it focused on the music industry, and I'm not in those circles. None of the people I wrote about are powerful enough to keep me from eating. But when it comes to Hollywood, I have to be very careful. It might sound cliché, but if you mess with the wrong person, then you'll never work in this town again and that's real.
ESSENCE.com: Does it bother you that so many people comment on your body rather than your intellect and soul?
K.S.: God knows my heart. I have a good heart. I treated my body the way I did because I was looking for something. My mother did the same thing-looking for a man to come and make right all the wrong that was done to her in the past. In my case, well, it's not easy when your first sexual experience is at 13. As a result, you try to re-create that same account and make it better. You want each person after that to make it better until you finally realize that it doesn't get better and you have to fix it from within. I've been seeing a psychiatrist for the past two years now, and it's helped me understand a lot of things about me, including the reason that I would self-mutilate, which is common among young females who have been raped or molested.
Continued on the next page »
Read Part One of our interview with Karrine Steffans »
Check out Karrine's personal photo gallery »
|
