There’s no doubt that Erica Mena is one of reality TV’s roughest and toughest stars, and arguably “Love & Hip Hop’s” greatest bad girls. But for every bad girl, there’s bad history and in Mena’s case that history includes a childhood of tragedy and a shocking sexual abuse confession.
Mena recently opened up about her rough past in an interview with Vlad TV, explaining that she was born in a prison after her mother went to jail for selling drugs for her father.
“My father unfortunately, gave her an ultimatum. You drop off the scenario and I’ll give you the money for the crib that you need,” Mena explained about the situation, saying that her mother wasn’t released from prison until she was around 4 or 5.
“My sister actually held me down, Lisa, she was 18 years old, until I was 3 years old. It was a lot for her. That’s when my mom was like, I don’t want her to suffer, I’ll have the state take her. Me and my family had our fair share of troubles,” Mena explained. “I think that’s why now too, I’m so adamant about my mom not working and being such a provider for her. I feel like my elders have gone through so much … I work too, I wanna give them everything.”
Mena explains that while her mother was in prison, she was sexually abused as a toddler.
“I was a baby, I was like still in a high chair,” Mena said, saying that the abuse ended when her mother was released from prison.
“No one knew about that until I was in my early teenage years, so I never got treated for it in a sense. I was just this little girl trying to adapt back to normalness,” she added.
Mena admits that the dark events of her childhood ultimately resulted in her negative behavior as an adult on reality TV, which hasn’t garnered her a positive image in the media. But she says she’s proud of the woman she’s become despite her past.
As much as I’ve been through, had I not gone through all of that stuff, I wouldn’t be like as tough, as good as I am. At 26 years old, I own a house in Florida. I have a place here now. I’m able to send my son to a really, really good school. My mom is taken care of. I’m able to take care of my sisters. For the first time in our lives, we live comfortable and that feels good. A lot of people bash me, but at the end of the day they don’t know how much I have,” Mena said.
Check out some other stars that have, tragically, suffered sexual abuse after the cut. – nicholas robinson
