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Azealia Banks Opens Up About Rough Childhood

The Harlem lyricist reveals the life behind her bad girl persona.

Azealia Banks is one tough chick and from what she's recently shared about her upbringing, we can see why the Harlem singer/rapper has such a defensive attitude. In an interview with the Sunday Times, Banks opened up about her abusive childhood and how she worked at a strip club as a teen to make enough money to survive.
After losing her father to pancreatic cancer when she was only two, Banks detailed how her mother "lost her mind" a few years later and became physically and verbally abusive with her daughters. The domestic abuse really affected Banks, who at the young age of 17 started stripping to make more money and dating men as old as 56. She once had a boyfriend's wife hire a private detective to follow the them around after she discovered their relationship.
"My boyfriend had started on me, like, 'I don't love you any more,' just hurtful stuff, and, of course, my young dumb-A$ started sending his wife emails. And I was psycho, and all of a sudden the same man popped up at my door with $10,000 and was like, 'If you want this $10,000, you need to give me all your phones and computers,'" she said adding that the private detective wanted to get rid of "anything I could send his wife." She was so desperate for money she took “two seconds” to say yes.
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 (Photo: Jennifer Graylock/Getty Images)

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