It started innocuously with implants and, I believe, a little liposuction. Then she got her teeth capped, which seems harmless. But I asked my dentist about getting some of those porcelain veneers and he told me that it’s really only for people with really jacked-up teeth. What they do is file down your own teeth to little black points (the teeth turn black after the roots are exposed) and then they place the veneers over that. That’s extreme, especially for someone like Kim, whose own teeth were just fine.
And then came the nose job, and that’s when I said that she went too far. Her nose job didn’t turn out well at all either.
Part of my problem with Lil’ Kim’s nose job—aside from the fact that it’s hideous—is that there is a bit of sellout in it.
I grew up in predominantly white Ocean Township, New Jersey where, for many of the girls, a nose job was almost like a rite of passage. “Happy thirteenth birthday, here’s your nose job.” We never thought twice about it, it was that accepted.
There is a huge difference in the black community, however. Plastic surgery is not something that “we” do. In fact, there are a lot of things “we” don’t do in the black community—enter rehab, seek marriage counseling, take care of our diets. We eat a lot of artery-clogging, stroke-threatening food because it’s the way we’ve always eaten—which is why there is such a high risk of high blood pressure, heart attack, and stroke among blacks. And when I go to Bally’s, I would like to see more black people in there working out too. I believe that eating correctly and exercise are keys to staying healthy. This is something I have grown into later in life, but I firmly believe in it. But it’s not something, by and large, that “we” do.
But despite the stigma, I firmly believe in plastic surgery. As I mentioned before, plastic surgery should only come after you are solid within yourself. I pump my fists for people who try to improve themselves any way they can. But I am troubled when I see, like in the case of Lil’ Kim, people are getting all of this work done on the outside when the real job needs to be done on the inside.
Kim started out as a black girl from the hood and now she’s posing as a white girl from Hollywood. It’s not a good look for Kim. And I believe it has hurt her career. She has lost her credibility with her core base of fans. And it’s not just because she’s had plastic surgery, it’s because she’s lost her identity.
Mary J. Blige has allegedly gotten breast implants, but there is still something very real about her. Mary still has the respect. Kim didn’t just get a nose job, she got a head job. Kim even speaks a different way when she’s in white company than she does when she’s in black company. And that’s not keeping it real.
So if you’re going to get plastic surgery, make sure you know who you are and that you’re getting it for the right reasons.
CHAPTER
12
How You Doin’?
The music industry is run by homosexuals. Top to bottom, everybody from the interns to the executives, homosexuals can be found in the music industry.
People ask me what’s the fastest way to get down? As I mentioned in Wendy’s Got the Heat, the fastest way to get down is to get down. And if the record label executive is gay and you happen to be of the same sex, you can always be homosexual or lesbianic with someone and get ahead. Hell, the women that are making things happen in the business, hmm. I’m not saying anything, I’m just saying, hmm.
The fashion industry, the music industry, from top to bottom are very gay friendly. If you’re a participant, that’s the better choice. And when we talk about hip-hop and you want to know why it is so prevalent, it is because there are a lot of people who have a dream of making it in that business. They have no aspirations of going to college or working in a trade. Maybe they’re not as pretty as a Kim Porter and can’t Baby’s Mama their way to success. Or maybe they’re not handsome enough, like a Tyson Beckford, and can’t model their way to the top.
But they need to get out of their situation, they want out of their poverty, and are willing to do anything, anything, to get out—even if it means having sex with someone of the same sex. And if they’re marginally talented, they can make it. Marginal talent can be fixed up in a major way in the studio. Look at Jennifer Lopez. Look at Ashanti.
Bigger than talent is cooperation with the honchos, and one of the biggest forms of cooperation is sex. And just because you’re a pretty woman—and, yes, guys are going to ask you to have sex—don’t think you won’t get approached by a female executive as well.
I got into this industry as a professional in 1987. I did not come home—to the music I enjoyed listening to—until 1990, when I was hired at 98.7 KISS. Prior to that, I had worked at stations that featured oldies and Top 40, and I wasn’t paying attention to these artists. I wasn’t going to the parties and I wasn’t listening to their music, I was just doing my shift. In 1990 when I got my job at KISS, all of a sudden I am going to the parties and seeing the stars of that time. I am seeing the top acts of that time and the top moguls. And there I am.
I may be an outsider because I am the bigmouth gossip from the radio, but I am still at the parties watching and observing. And some of the things I was seeing, all I could say was, “Oh, my gosh! It’s homo crazy in here!”
The first rapper that I can clearly say that I met and I was like “Oh, my, what a homo!” is a platinum artist today. And I can’t say his name, but I can tell you that he has been in the game a long time. When I first met him, he came up with his group. He’s from the tristate area and he was the ringleader of this group. They had a few hits in the early 1990s and the group has since broken up. They’re all broke, basically, except for the ringleader, who went on to enjoy platinum status, hanging with the likes of Mariah Carey and even endorsing a few mainstream products.
White people love him and so does the urban community. But he can’t really go into his old neighborhood without getting robbed because his secret is falling out of the closet so fast.
I used to work with a singer whose career flopped and she became a radio disc jockey. We were friendly and she used to screw around with this rapper. She told me that he used to always want anal sex from her. She finally came to me and asked, “Wendy, is he gay?” And I said, “Hmm, I was waiting for you to finally ask me.” I would never say anything unless asked. But when she asked I said, “Yes, honey, he is as gay as the day is long.”
He was straight-up trying to be hard for the public, when the truth was he was anything but. I first met him with his group around 1991. They came up to the studio and before the interview, the other guys left to go to the lobby or the bathroom or something and he stayed behind in the studio with me. We had a wonderful time. He kept calling me “girlfriend” and we sat and chatted like old, well, girlfriends, if you know what I mean.
He was not hitting on me at all, but we were vibing in that way—in the way a gay man vibes with a woman. And I thought, “I love it! He’s so hard but so soft. Look how his demeanor has changed from his on-air persona. Wow!”
He went on to be a breakout star. He has a beautiful personality. Early on, before he became a breakout star, we used to see each other at parties and he might give me the two-cheek kiss, step back, and say, “Girlllll, you look fabulous!”
I believe we could have been very friendly, but he had a secret. And back then so did I. You know, I had a cocaine habit and I wasn’t interested in being anybody’s friend. But since I wrote my book, I have now found out that everybody was skied up back then.
While I was busy hiding in the bathroom, little did I know I probably could have sprawled my stuff out on the console in the studio and had one big party. Everybody seemed to be involved in that kind of activity. But I didn’t know. I kept to myself. So I didn’t make many friends.
And today this rapper and I are not only not friendly but we don’t really talk, I think he thinks, because I know his secret, I’m going to blow him up. But in actuality, I wouldn’t blow him up. That’s old Wendy, which is why I’m not saying his na
me right now. I may throw a few “How You Doin’s?” out there when talking about him on the radio show. But if it came up, I would never put him on blast.
I remember thinking back then that he was so cool. This guy who was so tough on the mic but was so girlfriendy behind the scenes. It’s a shame he has to hide who he really is. He has kids. He’s successful. And he’s gay.
There’s another major rapper from New York who is in the same category. He, too, was part of a group and he branched off to become a big solo artist. This rapper’s name, in my opinion, is synonymous with homosexual. I have interviewed him several times on my show and one time even with his lover, who is also a rapper whose name you would know instantly. The rapper is married. His lover is not married. The lover is the only one allowed to call his house any time of day or night.
How do I know they are lovers? If for proof I need to be in the hotel room and see them in the throes of passion, then I don’t know. But trust me when I tell you, they have the connection. You can see it. It’s blatant.
They are good friends. But they are friends with benefits. I just learned that phrase last year. One of my listeners called up for advice and said she was married but she has a friend with benefits outside of her marriage. And I asked her, “Are you that hard up for health insurance?!” But another listener explained to me that a “friend with benefits” meant a friend that you have sex with. Ohhhhhh! So this rapper has a good friend with benefits.
This rapper’s wife has called me twice in the last year, agonizing over his sexuality. She has the hotline number directly into the studio. The old Wendy would have put her on the air immediately. But I am so long in the tooth now that I don’t feel the need to put every damn body who has a scandal on the radio. Sometimes I just say to my producer, Art, and Dave, my engineer, “Play another song while I talk to this woman in the other room.” And the story is sad. But not unique.
These girls meet these rappers and singers and actors— because it goes across the board and cuts along racial lines too— under a haze. These guys are famous and rich. Maybe there is weed and champagne or worse. The girls are young, maybe eighteen, when they meet. And by the time they get married they have been exposed to so much wealth, showered in so many diamonds, living the high life, that they aren’t thinking about perhaps he’s gay.
And this particular rapper is huge—a platinum-selling artist with his group and solo. These girls get used to a certain lifestyle. They’re not hanging out with regular people like me and you. There are usually their homegirls from back in the day and they shop at Gucci and Louis. Nobody’s observing the whole homo aspect. People take any flamboyancy as “Oh, that’s entertainment!” Any late-night hour or thug boys hanging around is “Oh, that’s just the industry,” or “That’s part of the business.”
And gayness is very much part of the industry and part of the business. World talked about it on a level few people have the courage to do. And so did Suge Knight. The first time I interviewed him we talked about the topic. I won’t repeat anything from our interviews because I don’t want to be sued, but if you want to hear what World and Suge had to say, blow by blow, I will make it available to purchase. Neither one of them holds back and they really give a perspective on this gay thing that I think is important—especially for women who are in the most danger of either catching a disease or getting emotionally hurt in a relationship with one of these men.
Let me tell you, every woman needs gaydar. It is your best friend. You develop gaydar by living and observing. You do not develop gaydar by staying in your house. You can have sharpened gaydar by age twenty-five easy, but you have to get out and watch and observe the scene.
You have to keep in mind that just because a particular man is a straight-up thug or a married banker doesn’t mean he can’t be gay. On the other hand, you have to keep in mind that just because a man is good at picking out a nice dress for you, hates sports, and is good at decorating the house or cooking doesn’t mean that he is gay. It is such a fine line and you just really have to know it.
I love a gay man, by the way—just not as a husband. That’s not what I was looking for. I don’t particularly love a gay man as a father unless it’s part of the plan as a stick-and-move. If you’re just trying to land him and you don’t care if he’s gay and he has money and you’re just trying to be taken care of—that’s a plan. But know what you’re getting yourself into before you do that. Know what you’re dealing with.
I am asked all the time how to know if your man is gay. My best advice is watch his friends. What you might think are just guys hanging out, one of his best boys could be his lover. Hell, it could be a whole circle of them. And out of his friends, there will always be that one who will give you the swooshy tip-off. It doesn’t mean that your man is gay or on the down-low, but watch his friends. I didn’t say accuse anybody, just watch his friends.
I would say watch your man’s mannerisms, but contrary to popular belief there is not one stereotype for anyone—not for black people, not for Italians, not for gay people. So looking for the usual suspect behavior may not work.
But if you really want to know where to find a large number of secret homosexuals, look no further than the music business. It’s something I have been talking about for years, but it wasn’t until 2004 when I sat down with World that everything was put into perspective for me.
World is a guy, not famous in the game of music, not a charting, platinum rapper. But he is an insider. He was once the boyfriend of Lil’ Kim. He contacted me to come do an interview about what I thought would be some dish on Lil’ Kim. Some of my best interviews come from disgruntled exes. But what he ended up talking about, many of my listeners are still buzzing about. He basically blew the doors off of hip-hop, describing it as a secret society of homosexuals.
The things he had to say were so explosive that we taped the interview a day beforehand. A live interview, in my opinion, would have put him in jeopardy of anyone rolling up to the studio and waiting for him afterward.
Before he came to meet with me, I knew of World by reputation. World and Lil’ Kim were together less than a year but during that short period, he completely controlled the situation and had Lil’ Kim on lockdown. He determined what she would do and who she would talk to. And during his time with her, the Experience was off limits for Lil’ Kim. Part of me understood the relationship. I, too, have a man in my life who is running my career. But there was another part that wasn’t feeling this World character.
I heard interesting things about World that were not so nice pertaining to his street game. He apparently was good at threats and intimidation. People were afraid of World—much the way they are afraid of Suge Knight. And I pictured him in my mind to be this big, strapping, scary-looking dude.
When I saw him I was like “Wow! This is the world-famous World.” He was slightly built—shorter and smaller than I am— soft-spoken and handsome.
But he’s still dangerous. Another kind of dangerous. And he is fearless. I was the one who suggested the taping of the show, because I understood the peril he was placing himself in by saying the things he said during our interview. But he wasn’t worried. He is also a practicing Muslim. And he had his Koran with him during the interview and was open about his beliefs.
I found World to be very credible, although some of his claims were hard for me to swallow—like the Masons and their link to this secret society of homosexuals. I know too many Masons, and this one I do not buy at all. But World believed everything he said. He spoke with great conviction. I found World easy to talk to, even though parts of the interview were like deciphering hieroglyphic codes from the Egyptian tombs.
That interview is one of my most requested reruns. I haven’t replayed it because I had planned on putting the entire transcript in this book. I wanted people to read for themselves, but it’s so over the top that the editors got nervous. So I just took snippets.
World: All right now, you got a lot of these cats, if you hear them in t
hey rhymes, a lot of them is spitting the language and they’re really nothing but puppets for the bigger people. And, you know, everybody knows that, everybody knows about these people but everybody scared to speak up.
WW: Well, I want you to speak and I want you to tell me, because right now we’re talking a secret language.
World: All right, let’s, I’m, I’m, I’m, no, no, I’m letting, I’m getting ready to jump deep into it.
WW: Okay.
World: All right now, in that little circle, they, you all know that, um, you have to be sworn to secrecy.
WW: Yes.
World: So it depends on what type of level you in this thing to whereas how you have to be sworn to secrecy.
WW: Got you.
World: These rappers, they know how to, they gotta be sworn to secrecy by homosexuality....But okay, listen, listen. Only thing you have to do is pay attention to the way these dudes look.
WW: Okay.
World: These dudes are grown men. How you running around in all these videos and all that and you ain’t got no facial hair? That’s because they imitating the people that built the pyramids. If you look at them dudes throwing up the Dynasty sign . . .
WW: Okay.
World: Yeah, this is, this is what these dudes represent, but they really don’t know what they following. They’re really, really lost. Like the devil is really fooling these people. They really don’t understand what they following. They’re just soldiers and puppets for the bigger people. And if you pay attention to what’s going on, like they’re really trying to step in, into the Muslim world with their music and all that. You see these dudes now in videos all in deserts and all that. On camels and stuff, you understand?
WW: Yes. What’s wrong with women? I mean, what are we, lepers?
World: What do you mean?
The Wendy Williams Experience Page 16
