1. “Life-Threatening Illness”
As a young child, Cardi battled serious health issues. “Cardi B has had really bad asthma basically her whole life,” Shawn Setaro, Associate Editor at Complex, revealed. “When she was a kid, she was in and out of the hospital. Her mother used to worry that Cardi would catch an asthma attack in her sleep and die.”
2. Too Poor to Eat
When Cardi was 18, she attended Borough of Manhattan Community College while working at Amish Market in Tribeca to make ends meet. “Work and classes were during the day and she often didn’t have enough money to both take the train and eat, so she had to go hours and hours without eating,” Setaro detailed.
As Cardi put it, “I was poor as hell. I was living with my ex-boyfriend that was beating my ass. I had to drop out of school.”
3. Secret Stripping
At age 18, Cardi dropped out of school and got fired from her job, so she started working at New York Dolls Gentlemen’s Club. “I used to cry after work. I could only imagine how embarrassed my parents would be,” Cardi revealed. “I’m so ashamed of myself but then it’s just like, ‘I just made $500 today.” Cardi original kept her job a secret and said she was baby-sitting lie. When her mom found out the truth, she was so mad she pushed her.
