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Madison Jaye doesn't just talk to celebrities, she is one. "The Princess of Entertainment" Madison Jaye, your personal window into EVERYTHING girl. From Women Empowerment Radio, Celebrity Interviews, Celebrity Red Carpets, D.I.Y, Fashion, and Beauty TIPs. Madison Jaye is the girl next door who's becoming your favorite celebrities best friend and bringing her #JayeDolls the exclusive interviews .The Princess of Entertainment is back on the mic! "The Madison Jaye Show" on Shrink Wrap Media. This personal window into everything girl kicked of her new show with special guest co-host by Carol Maraj the mother of hip hip icon " Nicki Minaj", Huffington Post contributor Vanessa Cunningham.
Carol Maraj, the mother of one of today’s biggest Hip Hop artistes, Nicki Minaj, has opened up about the trauma and abuse she had to endure during her life.
Speaking recently to Express reporter Renee Cummings at the Hyatt Regency in Trinidad, Maraj said “my strength came from my children, my hope, and my reason for living. I couldn’t give up. They kept me going. I decided enough was enough. I’m leaving and I’m not going back. I had to take care of me and live for me. But it took a long time before I reached to that place.”
Speaking recently to Express reporter Renee Cummings at the Hyatt Regency in Trinidad, Maraj said “my strength came from my children, my hope, and my reason for living. I couldn’t give up. They kept me going. I decided enough was enough. I’m leaving and I’m not going back. I had to take care of me and live for me. But it took a long time before I reached to that place.”
While Maraj now enjoys the perks of a Superstar daughter, she still recalls the abusive households she moved between. Her first encounter with chaos was as a result of the repeated episodes and the worsening symptoms of her brother’s acute mental illness which she said made growing up on Fort George Road, in St James, Trinidad more difficult than usual.
She was number 10 of eleven children and stated that they were the first family to have a concrete house with running water and a TV where she lived.
Maraj got married at 20 and moved from one violent home to another in Bournes Road Trinidad, which she described as being hell. “If I only looked at someone it was an argument. If we went out I couldn’t dance with anyone. If someone who knew me saw me out in the street and I spoke to that person it was a big argument and curse out in the street. I didn’t realise it then, those early signs of abuse. I was very young when the abuse started.”
Her son was the first to be born, followed by her daughter Nicki Minaj, whose real name is Onika Maraj. A young mother of two, she tried to keep it together and gave life her best shot while switching between jobs to make ends meet.
Her next major move was her departing of Trinidad and Tobago for a better life in the US, where she said her father had filed for her to get her Green Card. She was 24 when she arrived in New York, the Bronx, and entered Munroe College. She petitioned for her husband who followed six months after. Maraj said her husband, Robert Maraj, got a job at American Express. “At first, it was nice, very nice. He was cooking for me and doing a lot of nice things.”
She left her two children in Trinidad with her mother and they later came to America after Maraj’s father helped her buy her first house in Queens on 147th Street, off Rockaway Boulevard. It was at that point that she discovered that her husband was a crack addict, who later burnt the house down on a winter night, in December 1987, his wife narrowly escaping. She blamed it on the tremendous amount of responsibility that was passed on him from the age of 14, after his father had passed away. He was forced to take care of his five siblings and had to deal with the pressure and abuse he received from his mother.
Despite disclosures by Nicki Minaj that her parents were still together, her mother says they have been separated for more than 10 years. “A few years ago, he said he changed, and he wanted help. I still love him. But as a brother in Christ.”
She said as a hardworking 27 year old woman she faced devastation, shame, and humiliation to the max.” The neighbours are hearing. You have to hide your face and bend your head. God didn’t make me for this. I kept telling myself God didn’t make you for this.” Church seemed to be her only escape as she said she never stopped going to church, “even if my eyes were blood-shot red.”
With the past behind her, she said her daughter’s success changed her life drastically as she gained a new outlook on life. “We were living in Jamaica, Queens, and Nicki was talking to me and telling me Lil’ Wayne was interested in her music and paying her a lot of attention. I told her we just have to pray on it. That God wouldn’t bring her this far and not see it through. I told her God was going to complete it. I prayed and then I told her it is done! When she called me with the news she was so excited. We were all blown away by her success.”
With extra time on her hands now and less responsibility, the mother of the ‘pound the alarm’ singer was finally able to take some time off to heal. She’s a singer and songwriter, who, in a few weeks time, will release her first gospel single. She is also a playwright who writes drama presentations for the Life in its Poetic Form Ministries on Washington Avenue, in Brooklyn where she is an active member of
Maraj said she started spending more time writing about her life and has been working on an inspirational book that takes a look at what brought her to this new place.
Carol Maraj has come a long way and now she’s using her new found strength to help change the lives of battered women. She’s been doing a lot of motivational speaking, using her voice, sharing her experiences with women in New York City through the Centre of Domestic Violence in Manhattan. Now she wants to give back to the country of her birth by serving women in Trinidad & Tobago who are victims of abuse.
Carol Maraj has come a long way and now she’s using her new found strength to help change the lives of battered women. She’s been doing a lot of motivational speaking, using her voice, sharing her experiences with women in New York City through the Centre of Domestic Violence in Manhattan. Now she wants to give back to the country of her birth by serving women in Trinidad & Tobago who are victims of abuse.
Vanessa Cunningham is a Huffington Post contributor, nutrition & wellness expert of Unhealthy No More, Inc., best selling author, writer and speaker. A graduate of Pace University, she also studied at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. She helps busy professional women reduce stress, banish unhealthy cravings, lose weight and increase their energy levels. Through her one-on-one coaching programs, dynamic workshops and scintillating blog posts, she empowers her clients to thrive at work and in life.
She has also been featured on CNN iReport, Black Enterprise, Essence, MommyNoire, Everything Girls Love and MindBodyGreen. Her adoring fans have called her a "tell it like it is coach" and a "transformational coach." And when she’s not teaching busy professionals how to live a balanced life and fit healthy living into their hectic schedules, you can find her indulging in self-help books, hanging out with her friends in NYC, or with her family in Long Island.
Meet Vanessa and get ready to live a life of vibrant health and happiness instead of living stressed and overwhelmed by visiting her page atwww.unhealthynomore.com.
