UPDATE-Love & Hip Hop star Joseline Hernandez is defending herself against rumors of being a man, having a fake butt, going back to Stevie J and her past as a stripper.
In an interview with Global Grind Joseline begins by defending her relationship with Stevie J. See the excerpts below:
How did you link up with Stevie J?
I met Stevie J at the strip club when I used to dance. And I also knew that I wanted to do music, that I wanted to be a rapper. I wanted to be a singer. I wanted to be an actress. I also knew that and I met him through a friend of his and mine. We spoke. Then a couple of days after, I met him again at the studio, through another friend of mine that was trying to get in the business, and he said, ‘well, I think you should get in the business.’ I was like: ‘I always wanted to get into the business and sing and dance and do everything like this, but I always got fast money in the strip club,’ so I wasn’t really taking my career like I am now. Ever since then, we started working together, and here we are now.
What’s the most surprising thing about Stevie J that Love & Hip-Hop doesn’t show?
Stevie is a ladies’ man. What’s wrong with that? As bad as they talk about him, and he’s this and he’s that, every woman will let Stevie J play them, too. To me it’s a joke. Stevie, he loves all women. He loves women! There’s nothing wrong with that. If I was a man, I would love them too. Believe me. I’m not a man, and I love them, so I can just imagine if I was. He just loves women. But, Stevie’s a good person. To me, he’s a sweetheart. He doesn’t show me anything but being a gentleman. He can be an ass, but that’s everyone. He’s a sweetheart. A lot of people don’t know that about him. Oh, and another thing, he knows how to cook really, really, really good.
We also wanted to ask you about the naked picture on Twitter thing: would you take that back if you could?
Everything I do I take responsibility for fully. When they were saying ‘is she a women, or is she a man?’ I never in my life heard anything like that. It frustrated me. It depressed me. It drove me crazy to the point that I did that — send a picture of myself, humiliating myself even more, because I allowed people to get up under my skin. These people are the bullies. Twitpic a picture of myself — who does that, just to prove to you that I’m not what I know I’m not?
I will never let anybody take me out of character, where I have to Twitpic myself because somebody said I look like this or I look like that.
I would never be able to make everybody happy. How about I make myself happy? And that’s what I’m on right now.
How frustrating was it to hear that people thought you were a man?
It was so frustrating to me because, I promise to God, I’ve never heard that. I’m like ‘Me?’ Me? My perfect face, my perfect body?’ Yes, I got my boobs done, and I said that on TV, and I’ll say it again: I work out so much that my chest was flat. If any woman that wants to be a woman loves their body and how they look, they would have did it. I’m not the first one that got my boobs done. I love makeup. I’ve tweeted plenty of pictures of me without makeup because the television puts a lot of makeup on you, makes you hairier.
Most strippers are usually pushed to stripping because of their hard home lives or they’re out on their own. What was your story and what made you start stripping?
I have five brothers and sisters, and I make the sixth person, and it was my mom and my stepdad, and we left Puerto Rico, came here, when I was around 10-years-old. We really didn’t have any money. I’m talking about one pair of shoes for the whole school year. We were really struggling. So I’ve always seen my parents struggling. And my youngest brother, he has autism, so he doesn’t talk. He’s 14. So they always needed extra money for him. It was always problems, the six of us. My mom didn’t speak any English. She still doesn’t speak any English. She could never find a job, so my dad would just struggle, struggle. I just was like: ‘I have to do something.’ Ever since I was 15, 16, I’ve been taking care of my brothers, my sisters, my nieces and nephews, my mom and dad — ever since I was 16 I’ve been giving my mom money. I’m talking about $600 a month, a thousand dollars a month; if you need food, if you need to pay for the mortgage.
I bought cars for them. I’ve done a lot. I didn’t turn to the streets because I wanted to. I’ve always been a giving person, and I always felt bad for my family, and I feel like I have to help. My real dad, he died of an overdose, so I never really had a real father. I come from a family that’s done a lot of drugs and just did a lot of things. I came out rough in Puerto Rico, in the projects. I just had a real rough life. I really didn’t know what I was doing because I was so young, and I just felt like I needed to help them and myself. I got a brother, he has autism. He can’t even get no medicine. Who’s going to get the money? I have to do that. So that’s what really turned me into dancing. I knew that I didn’t want to do that. I want to be an artist. I want to be a singer. I want to be a rapper. I want to be a model. I want to be on TV, but, at that time, my family was struggling and I had to help.
Is your butt real?
Yes, my butt is real. I work out a lot. I’m always doing lunges. You’ll see it, because I know you’re going to go to MsJoseline.com and get this DVD.
When can we expect the workout DVD?
That will be coming out — It’s going to be on Msjoseline.com with the new single, “Bailar.” You need to go check out the new single. The single is fucking great! It’s a dance song, it’s a sexy song. And the workout DVD will be there, too, in the next few days.
