Since our interview, a Manhattan court judge has ordered Puffy to cough up financial data to Misa’s legal team. That info had been deep undercover since he settled a paternity suit with Kim Porter in 2001, when he was granted joint custody and would have to pay up until Christian turned twenty-one. The judge also denied Puffy’s request to be referred to only by his initials in court documents to avoid unwanted publicity over the paternity suit. So we will be staying tuned to all of the details in this case.
And, no, Misa doesn’t want Puffy back—she’s happily married with two more children—but what’s fair is fair. When you read what she has to say, you’re going to understand.
She doesn’t tell all in this interview and she doesn’t put Puffy on blast. She is guarded and at some points it’s like pulling teeth getting her to talk, which I understand. While we are friendly and while I am a woman of my word, maybe Misa didn’t know how far she could confide in me. I promised not to disclose that she was doing this interview for my book. But I know somewhere inside, just in case, she felt she needed to hold back. So we met and she talked cautiously.
She didn’t talk badly about Puffy. But she did talk honestly. Misa does have a story to tell and she does plan on writing a tell-all book, and has asked if I would interview her for it. So that’s coming. I got from her what I could—which in my opinion was juicy enough to make me wonder what else she really has. I can’t wait to find out.
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW SESSION
Misa Hylton-Brim
MHB: You’re too eager
WW: I am.
MHB: I have stepdaughters fifteen and ten. They had heard you talking about me on the radio and they were upset. They asked their father, “Daddy, why is this being said?”
WW: You’re talking about the story about you and Baby [from Cash Money Millionaires].
MHB: Baby invited me to his birthday party. When I got there, we talked a little business. He told me, “My kids’ birthdays are coming up and I want to get a pink mink bedspread for my daughter and a blue one for my son. Can you make that happen?” So that’s what we were talking about. Then you said I was on his lap at the club. And that’s not how I carry myself.
WW: That was me. It was very chicken-headish and I’ll tell you what—
MHB: And you said you felt sorry for me . . . and I was saying to myself, “I got a job. I am creating something for this guy’s kids, and it gets turned all around that I’m having this affair and am acting out with him in a club—which did not happen. And then I have to explain it to my stepchildren . . . that was tough.
WW: When you create something like that for an artist, do they pay you or do you get guarantees for the next video?
MHB: I don’t do that.
WW: I hate the double standards. And it’s not going to go away. Women, I guess, we’re suspect unless we do anything other than staying away from men.
MHB: That situation showed me I can’t talk to anybody.
WW: You must have been wearing something skimpy.
MHB: You want to know what I had on? I had just come from Miami and I had on an Iceberg sweater, it was mint green. And I had on white Iceberg jeans, those white leather-looking jeans. I had on a pair of sneakers and a white leather jacket.
WW: So you were covered up.
MHB: My hair looked like I just came from the pool. I literally just got off the plane. I pulled it up and stuck a pin in it.
WW: You’re naturally pretty. So it looks like you’re always done up.
MHB: Thank you. There were pictures. I wasn’t . . . and believe it or not, I don’t dress skimpy. If you really watch how I dress, I don’t.
WW: Your subjects do.
MHB: [Lil’] Kim’s the only one.
WW: You’ve done Foxy too.
MHB: Oh, yeah. Foxy will dress skimpy. But Kim was like the extreme. The most extreme.
WW: What ever happened to your boutique?
MHB: Madison Star? That’s my daughter’s name and the name of my brand, and things kept falling through. Different business partners kept dropping out. And me trying to do this on my own has been extremely hard. I don’t have any support from anyone who can really support me and put me out there. So it’s been hard. I’ve been doing everything on my own. A lot of people looking from the outside would assume Puffy would be there helping me or should be there helping me. A lot of people really haggle me with my money and fees because they think, “She doesn’t really need it.”
WW: I would assume that Puffy is helping you. And not helping you from the perspective of banging you. Because I don’t believe that you guys have that kind of relationship at all. But I believe he is helping you to benefit his number-one son, Justin. Not number one because he favors Justin. But number one because that’s his first son, the restaurant chain, the diamond, the oldest. Puffy could write you a check every month and you would never have to work again. Would you be okay with that?
MHB: I think the type of person I am, I would always have to do something. I don’t know how to be a rich man’s wife. And I don’t know how to not do anything but sit in the house. I don’t know how to do that.
WW: Well, how did you grow up, not knowing how to do these things? I’m curious.
MHB: I would say middle class. My mom and dad split up when I was about six or seven. I grew up around a lot of women, a lot of working women, taking care and handling business.
WW: Your mom is Asian and your father is black?
MHB: My mother is Japanese and black.
WW: Does your mother look more Asian than black? So you had a lot of Asian traditions in your house?
MHB: Yes. That’s funny, I was talking to a friend of mine who is mixed. Asian women by nature have a lot of tradition, a very Joy Luck Club thing. But of course, I would be the different one, not to be raised in the traditional route. But obviously my grandma wasn’t traditional, either, because she married a black man. So I was talking to a friend of mine who said, “I can’t do anything right!” Because her family is very strict.
WW: When you were in high school, you met Puffy?
MHB: No. I knew Puffy since I was a little girl. He lived around the corner from my best friend. We used to hang around in the same neighborhood, but didn’t physically play with each other.
WW: I saw “Driven: Notorious B.I.G.” He was fabulous. A bit on the flashy side back then. Very cute, by the way. Just to document how fabulous he was back then.
MHB: He is five years older than me, so back then he was thirteen and I was eight. His sister I knew a little more— Keisha.
WW: She used to be a secretary at Bad Boy or something. Why isn’t she talked about more?
MHB: She’s quiet and to herself. She doesn’t have to be seen, I guess. She’s very quiet.
WW: So how did you finally meet Sean, the older man?
MHB: How did we date? I met him at a Kwame concert. It was my very best friend’s birthday and we were out to see Kwame for her birthday. And we were all talking and [Puffy] was asking for my number. I couldn’t stand him. He was so arrogant. That’s so weird. His mouth. Oh, my God, you would just look at the phone and say, “I don’t believe this!”
WW: He was the intern then at Uptown. Cocky. Commuting back and forth from Howard. Did you ever go to the campus?
MHB: Yeah. And it took about a year. I told him I was older than what I was. I always lied about my age. I always wanted to be older. Now I’m grown, I say, “I wish I could be younger.”
WW: The thing about being grown is if you can’t bring a thirty-something head with a twenty-something age, then it’s not worth it. I wouldn’t turn back the hands of time.
MHB: Me either.
WW: And I’m looking forward to what life has in store. Every day I feel I’m getting stronger as a woman—professionally and personally.
MHB: Mm-hmm.
WW: So where’d you guys go on your first date?
MHB: Our first date? I don’t remember the first date.
WW: Puffy, he t
ook you to your senior prom?
MHB: He surprised me in a suit and Andre Harrell’s convertible Mercedes.
WW: How much were bitches hating on you?!!!!!!
MHB: (Laughter.) I didn’t know they were. It sounds so crazy. But it didn’t seem to me like that at the time. That was my life. It was normal. It was nice. He surprised me. It’s not like I had never been in a Benz before.
WW: Were you at City College? He and Heavy D came to my radio show to promote that. I was supposed to be one of the hype girls—I would say cheerleader, but I’ve never been cool enough to be a cheerleader. So I was supposed to be one of the girls on the sidelines for that game. But when I got there it was chaos, I mean chaos, outside, and I had no idea what was going on inside. You were with him at that time at City College.
MHB: Yes.
WW: Jessica Rosenbloom was the woman who was the promoter with Puffy on that. She’s also gone on to promote a lot of big events here in New York City. Cordial words for her now?
MHB: Jessica and I are very cordial. She used to rub me the wrong way. You know how some people have that kind of energy. I used to try to go into The Tunnel with my twenty girlfriends. And she would always give me a problem. But that was ten years ago.
WW: Jessica left him to be the fall guy for a lot of shit, didn’t she, in your opinion?
MHB: Um.
WW: He was an easy mark. Black, male, dumb, New York City. Hip-hop.
MHB: That’s when we lived in Hackensack.
WW: Geez! At that point, he really had no cachet.
MHB: He wasn’t broke. He was probably six figures, maybe just under. At least ninety thousand dollars. He had the A & R position. VP. Now you understand what I mean about everything.
We used to hang out a lot with Russell [Simmons] and Andre [Harrell] on the weekends. That’s when they would have these big parties in the Cloisters and I would go there for the weekend.
WW: So back when they were having parties in the Cloisters in New Jersey and you were going to the house and seeing people like Naomi Campbell and Russell and Andre were there and these were their houses, would you feel intimidated? Would Puffy treat you equally or would he leave you in a corner?
MHB: He would treat me equally.
WW: Did you make friends with some of the girls?
MHB: Yes.
WW: That’s on your own.
MHB: He would introduce me to some people—and whether he had dated them or not, he better not bring them around me because I wasn’t having it.
WW: You knew what this business was about when you signed on.
MHB: I didn’t know. But I learned.
WW: Some of the women he would bring you around—
MHB: I’m not going into that now. I’m saving that for later.
WW: Wow! Misa . . . I hear you. But it takes a certain type of woman to see the writing on the wall and know what the game is.
MHB: I’ll never forget, one time we had a party—and we had a lot of parties in our home—
WW: —in the home you shared with Puff?
MHB: Yes.
WW: Where was that home?
MHB: Scarsdale [New York].
WW: Fabulous.
MHB: Down the street from where I live now.
WW: So you’re still doing very well
MHB: I try. I’ve had some ups and downs.
WW: So you’d have parties at your home that you shared with Puffy in Scarsdale?
MHB: And I remember one party, girls were walking around, women everywhere, they all wanted him. And I couldn’t do it. But that was my life. It was normal. It wasn’t that serious. Maybe I was young. Maybe I couldn’t do it now. Maybe I was naïve.
WW: Were you looking at other men, while he was doing—
MHB: No.
WW: I don’t understand, either, how you put up with it. Did you date popular guys, the high school football captain? Or was this your introduction to popularity?
MHB: I dated mostly street guys, thugs. You know what’s funny? A lot of things that happened to me in my life just happened. I would get boyfriends who wanted to front, or buy me this pocketbook and buy me things. But I never asked for anything. I never asked for this lifestyle. I didn’t ask for anything, it just came into my lap. I had the local thug. And I don’t want to say the local drug dealer because that sounds so stereotypical. But I dated guys like that. I dated a guy who had a Benz and Puffy didn’t have a car and I ended up liking Puffy more. I was young and I wanted to date him.
WW: You were in the popular clique in school.
MHB: Yeah, me and my friends were popular.
WW: And you dressed well—
MHB: —Yeah, the hair, big hair fetish. I would dye my hair and cut my hair on the regular.
WW: So when you and Puffy got together and you got your house in Scarsdale, that was a good life? He was what, up-and-coming with Bad Boy at the time you purchased the home?
MHB: The deal happened right before that.
WW: Where were you before, an apartment?
MHB: In Hackensack, New Jersey. A little town house/condo. He rented it.
WW: That was when Bad Boy was brand-new.
MHB: Bad Boy started in the basement of the house in Scarsdale.
WW: Did you plan Justin?
MHB: I was really scared when I found out I was pregnant.
WW: Scared of what? To tell your mother and father?
MHB: I was scared to tell everybody. I knew this was serious. And I knew that there was going to be a lot of opinions. I knew if I told him . . . I didn’t know what to think. And I don’t want to talk about my views on abortion, because that’s not important. But I knew once I told him that it would be for real. No turning back.
WW: What was his reaction?
MHB: He was nervous; he was scared. He was happy. It was the best—my first five months.
WW: What does that mean?
MHB: He was attentive. He only went out a couple of nights a week. He said, “I’ll be here with you,” and he was. He lost his job at Uptown.
WW: What did Janice [Combs] say? Mom? There’s a big smile on your face as you look around the room. Your body language is becoming very closed. Should I assume that this means no comment?
MHB: (Laughter.) Yeah.
WW: Okay, fair enough.
MHB: (Laughter.)
WW: So you’re pregnant and Janice finds out.
MHB: Actually, we didn’t tell anyone until I was like sixteen weeks [pregnant]. I was really itty-bitty then. I never forget I went to a Greek picnic. . . . We used to travel a lot. I had a lot of fun going to Atlanta and to L.A. and going to Philly and going to the Howard homecomings. We really had a good time.
WW: But you could also watch the chicken heads.
MHB: It was always like that. And I can remember all of my girlfriends—I got a hotel room for all of us and we would all crash in there. And I was like, I’m ready now. And I lifted my shirt and showed them and they said, “How were you hiding that?!” It was just a little bundle.
WW: Wow!
MHB: And then I told my mom shortly after that. But I think the key was to be far enough along that . . . it is what it is, Mom and Dad.
WW: Did she flip?
MHB: No. She was like “Oh, my God.” And I understand. I have had younger cousins who have had babies and I have asked them, “Are you really ready?” Not to put them down but because you know because you’ve been through it. That’s the way it was with my mom. Motherhood is a lot. It is a never-ending experience.
WW: So, did you ever think you and Puffy would get married?
MHB: Once again, due to my age, that’s not anything that I viewed as important. It was important to my mom.
WW: Is marriage important now that you are married to JoJo [Brim] and have children by JoJo?
MHB: Two.
WW: Two children by JoJo and then Justin?
MHB: Yes.
WW: What would you say to a twenty-year-old girl who gets pregnant? Is
marriage part of the picture?
MHB: It is. It’s so important
WW: See, I’m married. And I try, Misa, not to sell women a bag of shit.
MHB: It’s a lot of hard work.
WW: It’s hard. But you don’t marry some guy just because you’re pregnant. That spells disaster.
MHB: Yeah, you don’t do that. The key is to be responsible. This is like a fantasy comment: But try to make the right decision. Sit down and talk about planning.
WW: Had you had any thoughts—prior to Kim Porter and JoJo— that you and Puffy would get married?
MHB: In the early years? When Justin was born? (Shakes her head no.)
WW: No?! What about him made you not want to marry him, because face it, when we women—and I don’t care how powerful we are—at the end of the day, like I always say, we are soft and pink. There are certain basic things that we might want to explore, might fantasize about. There must have been something very, very big that made you say, “No, not him.”
MHB: Hmm.
WW: Is Puffy selfish?
MHB: Those things I won’t comment on . . . not yet.
WW: Cruel?
MHB: No comment.
WW: Did things change after you had the baby and you were locked down, so to speak?
MHB: Well, one great thing about him is that if we went shopping he would say, “What do you need, hair, nails? We’re going out, we’re going to have a good time.” We would travel. I was like the only young black girl at nineteen with a live-in nanny.
WW: Isn’t that fabulous?!
MHB: Now, looking back, yeah. But back then that was my life. That was always the plan.
WW: The nanny. Was she the fourth lady in the pew at church or did you go to an agency and she didn’t know you from Adam?
MHB: The first nanny was a woman recommended to me by my aunt.
WW: Minded her own business?
MHB: Definitely. But shortly, my nanny experiences are a whole other thing. I can write a book on that subject alone. The first one missed her country and she was an older woman and wanted to go back. That was one down . . . eight more to go. It’s hard.
Puffy wasn’t like other men. He didn’t say to me, “Why do you have that on?” He definitely liked style. And he liked to see me wear whatever made me look good. He liked to go out.
The Wendy Williams Experience Page 12
