With “Love & Hip Hop Hollywood” just beginning to heat up, rolling out wanted to catch up with one of the new franchise’s standout stars, Moniece Slaughter, who fans are on the fence about as far as her alleged poor parenting skills.
Following the criticism that followed the premiere episode, when the father of their son Kameron aka Lil Fizz was praised for his efforts as a single father and Slaughter painted as an absent parent, the former singer-songwriter, is now here to set the record straight.
Does Fizz really have full custody of their son Kameron? What really occurred between the former couple to cause such a rift in their current relationship? Check out what Slaughter had to say below. – ruthie hawkins/@ruubabie
Who is Moniece Slaughter? There’s really not much to say. Naturally I’m an introvert. Naturally a pretty private person and I’m not really big on selling myself to anyone.
In saying that you’re a “naturally pretty private person,” what influenced your decision to do reality TV? There were a couple of factors that influenced my decision to join the cast and do the show. The first was, I know that a lot of people in Hollywood have a lot of really negative things to say about me and the way I’ve chosen to live my life. And it wasn’t so much that I wanted to come on the show to disprove certain rumors or play the he said, she said game, but more to say, I know what’s out there about me. F— it! You don’t really know me. But maybe you can get a chance to know me and have a little light shed on why I’ve made certain decisions.
The second reason I joined the cast of “Love & Hip Hop Hollywood” is because I’ve taken a step back from the music business for two years. This September makes two and I knew that my son’s father so desperately wanted to be back in the limelight. He was selling weed and I thought that the show would give him another opportunity to potentially launch his music or anything else he had going on and it would give him a legitimate way to make money to support our son.
There are a lot of rumors circling about the reason behind why Lil Fizz originally received full custody of your son Kameron. Do you want to set the record straight on what really occurred? Definitely! Drew and I are not together. When I found out I was pregnant, he actually broke up with me and then I found out a week later, that I was expecting. After finding out, he decided that he wanted to make the relationship work. I tried. When my son was three weeks old, I decided I wasn’t in love. We weren’t seeing eye to eye and it was me who left the relationship at that point. He said he wanted to make it work. I said I didn’t — at least not at that point. I felt like we should work on ourselves as individuals and then come back together as a strong family unit.
Originally, we had an arrangement set up verbally, in regards to custody for Kameron. The real issues didn’t begin until one day. Drew came to my house to pick up our son and threatened to never bring him home. He said he had already filed for joint custody and because I didn’t respond, I had lost in default. But in all reality, I didn’t respond, because if I had responded with an attorney, he would have lost all rights to his son.
I was actually going to court with our son and he wasn’t showing up. There ended up being a huge fight that day that involved my parents and after everything escalated, I attempted to f— up his car but before I could even make it to the car, he tackled me in the street. The police were called. I was running my mouth, so they took me to jail and not him. But because I was so bloodied and messed up, the DA dropped the case and they were not going to remove Kameron from my custody.
Drew later filed for a temporary restraining order. But again, he never showed up to court, so a permanent restraining order was never granted and the temporary order was dropped.
DCFS had to get involved because anytime there is a domestic dispute and a minor is involved, by law, they have to come out and evaluate the situation. They ended up coming out to my home, evaluated me and my living situation and determined that it was best that Kameron stayed with me.
My mother and I at the time were not getting along. I had a brother who at the time was addicted to heroine. Some things transpired. My mom blamed me and wanted to kick me out of the house, but she knew that if I left, Kameron would have to go with me and I don’t think she could live with that.
So the day DCFS was calling me to close the case, I actually wasn’t home. Kameron was visiting with his father. My cellphone was dead and when they finally reached someone at the house, it was my mother, who lied and said that I had hit my son with an open hand. But when they [DCFS] came out to see him, there were no signs of bruising, no signs of physical abuse, nothing of the sort. So that is where I lost full custody of my son.
I fought for a year and a half to get my son back. I went from having him five to six days a week to seeing him six hours a week at a DCFS office. It then graduated to supervised visitation with family members — his goddad and my cousin. Then it was he [Lil Fizz} showed his a–. The judge got tired of his s—, closed the case and told him to never petition again.
It was actually me who encouraged Drew to file for joint custody because we couldn’t see eye to eye and he felt like I was slipping further and further away, I was going to find someone new, take my son and run away. I told him that I would never do that because my mom did that with me and I didn’t believe in that. So if filing joint custody made him more comfortable and he needed to solidify his visitation rights legally, I was behind him 100 percent because for me, it was never about us but our son Kameron and I refused to use him as a pawn.
Following the premiere episode, a lot of viewers felt as if you put your business before your son. How does it make you feel when outsiders attack your parenting style? What would you say to those critics? It doesn’t make me feel any type of way. I used to struggle with stuff like that. But when I was pregnant, I was in therapy. Drew and I were actually in therapy together and when I continued on my own, I learned how to cope with those types of issues. So I now have a healthy understanding that Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and social media isn’t real life. Those people don’t really know me and won’t ever meet me. They know what the show portrays and what I allow them to see so outside of that the one thing I would say is that I don’t put my business before my son. Once the show began taping, my circumstances changed and unlike Drew who stays at home with his mother and has her at his disposal, my support system is far different.
In my family, we’re taught that for every decision you make there are consequences. There’s no mom and dad who are going to save you. So even when I was staying at home with my parents, Kameron was under my care 100 percent. I wasn’t parlaying around like many think, in the clubs or in the streets. I was at home with my son.
So if I want a new place for me and my son I have to be out working to get that. No one is handing me checks. You don’t see me on the arm of a different dude every week, plastered on posters or hosting at clubs. I have to work. My struggle is very, very real so when people voice their negative opinions, I don’t respond to it, because I am dealing with real life s—.
Their feelings and opinions are their own but I could care less.
How has your relationship been with your mother since the custody battle? For a while, I was very, very angry. The custody battle ended right after Kameron’s 2nd birthday and it began when he was approaching 7-months-old so during that entire gap of time, we weren’t amicable at all. It wasn’t until we were nearing the end of the custody battle that she called to apologize and it was at that time that I forgave my mom. Since then we’ve gone up and down, up and down. Our relationship isn’t the best but we have an understanding now that I have no interest in arguing. I have no interest in going back and forth. I have no interest in debating whose right or whose wrong. My only interest is here’s the resolution. Can we move on?
How has your personal relationship and your co-parenting relationship with Lil Fizz been since taping the show? Drew and I weren’t talking before taping the show. It wasn’t until the producers called me and informed me that he was auditioning for the show, that I reached out and contacted him. The production team basically told me that they couldn’t take him [Fizz] without me, because they needed my story. During my talks with VH1, he was very cooperative. We still had our arrangement of one week on, one week off. He was making sure Kameron called and was sending me pictures of him before he went to school on the days he had him; he was definitely in constant communication.
It wasn’t until I signed on, that everything went back to the way it was. He’s not communicating. Now I’m out of the house, so he has Kameron full time. He’s taking Kameron during the weekends, which is supposed to be my time and running off to Sacramento, sending Kameron to Vegas with his mom and not telling me until Kameron is long gone.
And I don’t have a number on his mom, so I’m constantly calling him saying “Have Kameron call me. Have Kameron call me. Have Kameron call me.” And it’s not until I puff up my chest that I get a call.
So co-parenting right now is difficult. I have to keep reminding him that when he does those things, technically it’s kidnapping because we have a court ordered custodial agreement. So regardless of what we have scheduled outside of that, weekends are still my time on paper. So when he takes him like that, I have every right to call the police and document those things but when he is apprehended, because he would be apprehended, do I want to go there? Should I go there, when he’s not communicating and I don’t know if my son is with him. I don’t know if his mother or sister is with him. And if he were to get picked up and it were just he and Kameron, my son would go right back into the system and I don’t want that. I don’t want my son to witness that because I know what effect that would have on him.
I’m not here to bash Drew but I feel like he uses that to his advantage.
But it is because I know how Kameron feels about his father and how much he loves him, that I refrain from taking it to that level and making certain decisions.
Do you think that you and Drew will ever come to a peaceful resolution when it comes to raising Kameron? Drew and I will be able to come to a peaceful resolution in regards to raising Kameron when he learns how to let go. And that’s just the God’s honest truth.
When Drew finds out I’m in a relationship or dating, all hell breaks lose. He goes above and beyond to make my life hell. For example, I was dating someone after the custody battle was over and I asked Drew if I could have Kameron on one of his allotted days because I wanted to take him to a Lakers game and he responded by saying “You just want to take him so he can meet your boyfriend.” And I said well, my boyfriend is going to be on the court. There’s no way for him to meet him. I’m not a wife. I’m not going back into the locker room or the tunnels when the game is over. I’m going home.
In that sense, Drew and I parent completely different. I’ve been in two serious relationships since Kameron’s been born and neither one of them met Kameron. So I think that’s his own guilty conscience because he has all these women around Kameron and he feels like I’m doing the same thing but I’m not. I never have nor will I ever.
With that being said, Drew is bitter. He’s mad at the way that I left.
I said I wasn’t going to go here when it was time to do interviews but I’ve been hearing some things, so in my own defense, it’s okay for him to live his life and I’m just supposed to lay down and tolerate disrespect from the new b—-. But it’s not OK for me to move on and be happy and possibly start a family with my son involved.
As viewers tune in and get to know you via “Love & Hip Hop Hollywood,” what is the one thing you would like them to walk away with after hearing your story? By the end of the season I would want them to feel like being disrespected by your child’s other parent is not something that you have to tolerate. You don’t have to stoop to their level.
At the end of the day I would want them to understand that God sees all and when you’re doing the right thing and trying to live right, you always prevail.
And for women I know it looks like the h— are out here having fun. They’re out on yachts and jets, rocking red bottoms, Chanel and living the life, all the while posting their pictures on Instagram. Meanwhile you’re in school or at home taking care of kids, in and out of work, bouncing from house to house, really struggling as you watch those women live that life — I get it. I’ve been there and I can personally tell those women that even though I’ve been there, I’ve also been on the receiving end of those blessings and it is so worth it, once you reap the benefits of your struggle, sleepless nights and all the suffering once you decide not to become a victim of your circumstances and work your fingers to the bone. Keep going! Don’t listen to any negativity people may throw your way. You can do it!
