Lil Kim Explains WHY She First Got Plastic Surgery! (They Messed Her Up)

Rapper Lil’ Kim has received much attention over her noticeable plastic surgery throughout the years. And although a few stars go under the knife for vanity reasons, that wasn’t originally the case for the New York emcee.

Lil’ Kim’s plastic surgery started off small

Lil’ Kim | Erika Goldring/Getty Images

When Lil’ Kim first had work done to her face, it was more to correct an injury than an attempt to enhance her features. The Bad Boys artist has been very candid about being in a physically abusive relationship in the past. She once told her story to the old magazine The Source so fans can see that anyone could be caught in an abusive relationship. Even her. The abuse she endured at the hands of her ex-boyfriend left her with many injuries, including a broken nose she needed corrective surgery to fix.

“In reference to the battered women, just recently, and I’m talking about a year ago, I got out of a relationship with a very abusive man,” she said. “I’ve had the black eye, bloody lips, busted nose. I came out of the hospital from getting my nose done and he broke my again. I had to have MRI’s because one time I was beaten so bad that I couldn’t even move, and I had blood clots all in my back. I couldn’t walk. One day I heard a voice actually telling me you better leave right now. I had to leave out my own damn house.”

But her experience with plastic surgery wasn’t only a response to abuse. Elsewhere during the interview, Lil’ Kim shared she experimented with a few procedures thanks to her aspiring movie career. She admitted to getting sugar injections in her lips to better resemble a character she was playing. However, she didn’t mention the film by name.

“I just wanted to try it,” she said. “I was supposed to get this role in this movie, I was supposed to be a character, almost like a cartoon, and I really wanted to play that character, almost like a cartoon, and I really wanted to play that character out to the fullest, so I was like, I’m gonna change my look up a lil’ bit, and you know me, I don’t care. It’s justt a sugar injection you get in your lips, for people who want full lips or whatever, and it goes away in six months.”

However, the surgery would be the first of many plastic surgery headlines that continue to follow the rapper’s career to this day. A few pictures were taken of the rapper before her lip injections fully healed, stirring controversy among her fanbase. Lil’ Kim was well aware of the criticims regarding her plastic surgery, but she was able to laugh them off at the time.

“I’m a bad b****. I don’t care what nobody say. I’m fly. I look good,” she said.

Wendy Williams once cautioned Lil’ Kim about addressing plastic surgery rumors

The rapper’s plastic surgery didn’t seem to stop at lip injections, however. Cosmetic experts have theorized that the “Lady Marmalade” singer has taken quite a few trips to her surgeon’s office.

“It’s clear that there has been some skin bleaching. She’s probably used chemicals, which contain very high doses of acids, on her face, combined with high-acid creams to lighten her skin,” surgeon Jennifer Levine once told Us Weekly.

Nowadays, Lil’ Kim has become as known for her rumored surgeries as she is for her musical legacy. So much so that she’s allegedly tried to ban any conversation about her looks when doing interviews. According to TooFab, Lil’ Kim once reportedly canceled an appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen because of the focus on her looks. Talk show host Wendy Williams once weighed in on the situation, reflecting on how Lil’ Kim canceled their interview over plastic surgery talks.

“When you were to come on Wendy, I already knew even before your publicist or you, whoever was going to try to lay down some laws of what I can’t ask, I wasn’t going to dwell on plastic surgery,” Williams said.

But Williams asserted she would’ve brought up the plastic surgery rumors in some form or fashion.

“There’s no way to get around plastic surgery, there’s no way to get around allegation of skin bleaching, there’s no way to get around stuff,” she said. “But I wasn’t going dwell on that. I was happy to have Kim here. All hail the queen!”

Still, Williams considered herself a fan of Lil’ Kim, and sympathized with the rapper’s situation.

“I don’t blame you, because a lot of people might not respect your status,” she said.

How to get help: In the U.S., call the RAINN National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 to connect with a trained staff member from a sexual assault service provider in your area.