Getty Lil Kim and her daughter Royal Reign
Lil’ Kim is the recipient of the I Am Hip-Hop Award, which is the most prestigious honor handed out at the 2019 BET Hip-Hop Awards. She dedicated the award to her daughter Royal Reign, which has led many fans to look into the rapper’s personal life. How many children does Lil’ Kim have? Is she currently married?
Read on to learn more about Lil’ Kim’s family and her kids:
1. Kim Has a 5-Year-Old Daughter Named Royal Reign
Lil’ Kim gave birth to daughter Royal Reign on June 9, 2014. She was born in New Jersey and weighed 6 lbs, 5 ounces at the time of her birth. During a Revolt interview, Kim talked about the ways in which Royal has changed her career outlook. “How can I say this without cursing? Motherhood has made me not give a f**k,” she explained. “Everything that I do is for her.”
Kim said that her priorities shifted once she was pregnant, and working on her latest album Hardcore 2K14. “When this project was supposed to come out I had got pregnant. I didn’t know,” she admitted. “I was just moving and working and sutff. Once I became fully pregnant, I was working in the studio but at one point I couldn’t work anymore, obviously.”
2. Kim Was Previously Married to Rapper Mr. Papers
Lil’ Kim has dated several notable musicians throughout her career, including the Notorious B.I.G. and Jay-Z, but her most notable relationship has been with aspiring rapper Mr. Papers. Papers, real name Jeremy Neil, dated Kim for several years and is the father of Royal Reign. That said, Papers and Kim were broken up by the time their daughter was born. Their rocky relationship has resulted in a custody battle, as well as accusations that Papers was abusive towards Kim during their time together.
Kim filed a lawsuit against Mr. Papers citing domestic violence in 2015. She claimed that he physically abused her during their relationship, and that he should not be allowed partial custody of their daughter. Papers filed for visitation in response.“He is literally just trying to see her. He’s been trying to do it very quietly,” said Papers’ publicist Tasha Hilton. “There has never been any domestic violence.” Despite their issues, Kim and Papers appeared to have cleared things up.
In a since-deleted Instagram post, Papers apologized for his behavior towards Kim. “My heart is with her. I made a lot of mistakes growing up and I even made mistakes after I grew up but one of my biggest mistakes was losing my wife and all that time with my family,” he wrote. “When I posted a pic of her enemy I was in my feelings and upset because she was posting pics with other n*ggaz and I acted off my emotions , but the truth is , there is no female out here , rapper chick /celeb chick or regular female that is Badder or flyer than Kim.”
3. Kim Has Defended Her Daughter Against Social Media Criticism
Lil’ Kim has made a habit of posting photos of her daughter on Instagram. These photos see the rapper dressing her daughter up, or posing alongside her. That said, some users have criticized her for pushing her daughter into the spotlight. During a 2018 exchange, one user wrote:
No offense—but you post photo after photo of yourself from all of these high definition professional photoshoots wearing top of the line fashion. But when it comes time to make one post about your daughter, the best you can do is post a blurry crappy picture where she’s wearing some regular crap and barely prepared for the photo?
Lil’ Kim did not take kindly to the comment, and clapped back, defending her daughter’s photos. “Sweetie, I’d have u to kno that she’s wearing Gucci from head to toe but I wouldn’t expect U! To know that,” she replied. “Actually this shows where ur priorities r worried if my child is wearing name brand or not. Y r u so pressed? What’s in ur child’s closet? Chile bye!”
4. Kim’s Cousin Aggy Was Shot & Killed In March 2019
It breaks my heart to have to send out this special RIP to my little cousin Aggy who was shot and killed. At times you were so quiet but as soon as you started speaking everyone in the room knew that you were a real riot. You were a halfway comedian but… [continued in thread]
Kim’s cousin Aggy was shot and killed on March 23, 2019. The rapper confirmed Aggy’s death on Twitter, where she issued a complete statement. “It breaks my heart to have to send out this special RIP to my little cousin Aggy who was shot and killed,” she wrote. “At times you were so quiet but as soon as you started speaking everyone in the room knew that you were a real riot.”
“You were a halfway comedian but I used to tell you that you need go away to college and get a basketball scholarship,” Kim added. “You had so much potential. We your family will greatly miss you and we will always keep our lighters up for you. Love you Aggy.” No further details about Aggy’s death or the culprit have been reported.
5. Kim’s Mother Ruby Influenced Her Confident Rap Persona
Kim credits her mother Ruby Jones with giving her the confidence to become a rap superstar in the 1990s. During a XXL interview, she talked about her mother growing up, and the ways in which she emulated her. “My mom, to me, was super sexy when she was young and vibrant and I always thought she was fly. I just tried to mimic my mother,” she revealed.
“My mother had mink coats and all of that when I was a little, little girl. My mother was so fly, she would buy me my own Gucci bags, but the ones that I wanted to wear to school was the ones that she had,” Kim added. “So, I would sneak and wear her stuff to school. She would know though because I would leave something in there. I always liked older stuff. I would watch and try to hang out with the older girls and they loved me.”
Kim says that she sees the same confidence manifesting in her own daughter. “I don’t know where it comes from. Even my daughter, she does things where I’m like, Where is she getting this from? I think it’s like naturally in our family,” she explained. “She just poses and not trying, it just comes out so sexy. I be like, Oh no, my little baby. This is good and bad at the same time. I think the girls in our family, we naturally move sexy, pose sexy.”