Lauren London is opening up about how she’s coping following the death of rapper Nipsey Hussle nearly three years ago.
London and Hussle dated for five years, and she welcomed their son, Kross Ermias, who’s now 5, in 2016. Hip-hop star Hussle was fatally shot in Los Angeles in March 2019, and London has remained relatively low-key since his death.
“When you have this plan for your life, as you should, if or when that gets derailed, and you have plan B now to go off that you didn’t plan on, it is the ultimate test of surrender,” the actress, 37, said during an appearance Tuesday on Jay Shetty’s podcast On Purpose, People Magazine reports. “Because at the end of the day, as much control as we think we have, we do not.”
London said she has learned to go with the flow and “surrender” while managing her grief.
“It’s actually very powerful to surrender — we think that it’s a weakness, but it’s so much power in letting go and flowing with the river because life is going to do what it’s going to do,” said London, who also shares a 12-year-old son, Kameron Samuel Ari, with ex-fiancé Lil Wayne. “We are all going to get chin-checked by life one way or another — so I might as well focus on my enlightenment and roll with the river and not fight with the rocks.”
London previously spoke out about how she used her personal pain to help inform her character in Without Remorse, the 2021 action-packed film starring Michael B. Jordan currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video. The project marked London’s first film role since Hussle’s passing.
“Mike reached out to me personally and gave me some insight on the film and what they were looking for,” London said of her co-star in a May 2021 interview with theGrio. “Honestly, with my personal experience with grief and loss and pain and moving forward just in life, I just want to make sure that I can give art some honesty and some truth.”
She said she returned to acting following Hussle’s death to set an example for her two children.
“We can’t stop, you know? We do have a purpose, all of us, and it’s important for my sons to see me moving forward with grief, not just curling up in a ball, because I curled up in a ball for a long time,” she told Entertainment Tonight.
“But especially for my eldest son because he’s just a little more aware … But we will continue moving on as we had to, as he would want us to,” London added.
She celebrated what would have been Hussle’s 36th birthday, on Aug. 15, 2021, with a heartfelt tribute on Instagram.
“Happy Birthday My King! I Love You Today and Forever Missing you is just apart [sic] of my DNA and I wear it with honor,” she wrote at the time, adding, “Kross reminded me that you are ’36’ like me. ?✨ 1 of 1 Hussle The Great there will never ever be another.”
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