Estelita From ‘Love & Hip Hop Atlanta’ Opens up About Her Heartbreaking Past
So heartbreaking. Aspiring singer Estelita Quintero from Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta has been through hell and back, which is why she is refusing to let a f–kboy like Stevie J stop her from chasing her dreams. On a recent episode, Estelita opened up about the true nature of her relationship with Stevie and she got extremely emotional as she opened up about her past.
After Estelita rekindled her friendship with Erica Mena, she asked her pal to go with her to meet with dancehall music sensation Spice. Since Spice is so successful in her career, Estelita wanted to ask her for advice about how to make it in the music industry — and that's where she finally admitted that she did have sex with Stevie J before she signed a contract to hire him as her manager. Spice asked Estelita about her past, because Spice said that Estelita should use her experiences to make her believe in herself and to make her a stronger person — and that's when Estelita opened up.
"It's so hard for me to speak about my childhood," the 36-year-old said, holding back tears. "I went through so much growing up."
Estelita went on to explain that she is the youngest of 20 kids and her family planned for her to leave her home country of Panama to come to the United States at 18 years old, but she had to leave sooner at the age of 14 after she was raped by five different guys. But that's not the only awful thing that happened to her.
"Growing up, I remember my father sexually molesting me," she revealed. "I used to have my father give me money and tell me I needed to do things to earn it at 5 years old. I didn't knew [sic] that I was doing something wrong when he used to lock me in the bathroom and made [sic] me do those things."
Estelita's father died when she was nine years old, and the only parent she had to rely on was her mother. Even though her mom judged her for becoming a dancer when she came to Miami at 14 years old, they still had a close relationship which is why Estelita was devastated when her mom died after a battle with cancer.
She went on to explain that it got to the point where she felt that she didn't want to live and she tried to commit suicide twice. But now, Estelita is strong and she doesn't consider herself a victim of her circumstances — she's a survivor, which is why she's so upset that Stevie would take advantage of her vulnerability.
"It's not that easy to write off Stevie because when I came here to Atlanta, he was only person that was there for me," Estelita revealed in her confessional. "I really need to figure it out [if] he's manipulating me like Erica says, or if a part of Stevie really believes in me as an artist."
If you need support, The National Sexual Assault Hotline is available 24/7 at 1-800-656-4673. You will be connected with a trained staff member in your area. Or visit RAINN.org to chat online one-on-one with a support specialist at any time.
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