Emily Bustamante is probably the sexiest cast member of VH1’s drama-filled hit reality series Love And Hip-Hop, but sexy doesn’t buy you happiness.
Emily is the former girlfriend and mother of rapper Fabolous’ son Johan. Known for being the quiet girlfriend, who never stands up for herself, Emily B. is coming out of her shell as a newly independent woman.
Emily is kicking her tears to the curb, and has finally broken up with Fab. Besides being a mother, Emily’s been focusing on her career as a stylist and starting her own fashion line entitled “Emily B.”
GlobalGrind caught up with a very busy Emily to talk about Kimbella sleeping with Fabolous, drama on the season, and even her adorable son Johan.
Check out the exclusive interview below!
GlobalGrind: Can you tell us a little bit about this season? There is a lot of drama going on with Kimbella and Fabolous.
Emily Bustamante: I didn’t want to come back with the same story as last year. I wasn’t going to do a second season with that same story. So I knew that if I was going to do this, it had to be a lesson for everybody. I have made a lot of changes in my life. I did move and change my circumstances. So you get to see my journey and what I had to do to make those changes.
Of course there was a few bumps along the road; I found out a few things that I didn’t want to hear (laughs). But you know what? I’m OK with it, because you grow through what you go through.
When or what was your breaking point?
There wasn’t really a breaking point, it wasn’t like I left and there was an argument. No, over time we had a lot of talks; if I want a change in my life and I want him to change and I want this to work, guess what? I’ve got to change me first. Evidently, there was something I was doing wrong and I had to change it. I changed my living situation and my circumstances. I’m glad that I’ve made a decision. My life has changed for the better and even with me and him everything has changed, we’re good. He’s in a better place because I did the show and he learned a lot from it. I will say that it has more pluses than negatives.
Kimbella revealed to you that she used to “date” Fabolous in front of everyone. She seems to be the villain this season. Would you say that’s her role?
(Laughs) She’s that kind of girl. Ugh, I don’t even want to go into that. I will say this, I have no hard feelings against Kimbella. We don’t have no beef. At this point, this far along, she’s doing her thing and I understand. It is what it is.
It wasn’t the time or the place. She had to go into those meetings and say that to those producers in order for them to get the information. She knew what she was doing. It’s whatever. Personally, I would have taken that to the grave. I never would have thought that she would want to say that on national T.V., especially when your man works with him and that is his colleague. But, everybody’s different. That was her decision and I guess she felt like she had to get it off of her chest or whatever, but it didn’t play off well in the situation.
Chrissy didn’t like how Kimbella disrespected you, so she handled her. How did you feel when they started fighting?
It was just one of those things where she was like ‘Oh yeah? That’s what you came here for?’ (Laughs) It was just weird and no one really expected for them to fight, but it was a little tension between them. They were going back and forth and it turned into a Chrissy and Kimbella fight. And you see me actually crying in the scene. I wasn’t crying because of what she told me, let’s get that straight (Laughs). I was crying because of the embarrassment. It was a lot of emotions in the room, Chrissy had just fought. She ended up getting mad at me and I didn’t know how to handle it because I thought ‘Wow, this is going to be on T.V.’ I was so embarrassed. This is our first week of shooting. Oh my God, what did I get myself into?
Even when you see people fighting, it brings out different emotions…
I don’t condone that. I didn’t want Chrissy to fight her. If we could have done it over again, I wish that she wouldn’t have because she put more light on the situation than it needed to be. It was a lot of emotions and I think that Chrissy was feeling my emotion at that moment. She knows a lot that I’ve been through.
You said that you were focusing more on your career during the season. What’s some stuff that we can look out for from you?
Right now, I am working on my clothing line, it’s entitled Emily B. It’s still in the works. It will be out Fall 2012 and you’ll get to see my journey with that as well. It’s been a long time since I’ve been working on this…for a long time. I wanted to do this for at least ten years. I went to school for fashion design and it’s not as easy as being a stylist. It’s something that I’ve been working on and I’m finally here. That’s my love right now. That’s my love life (Laughs)… and that’s my baby. I’m working on that. That’s my focus. You’ll get to see me styling up too. I styled New York Fashion Week’s: Samantha Black’s Fashion Show. So you’ll get to see me, Emily the Stylist and Emily the Designer, and not just Emily the Cry Baby!
Have you picked up some more clients since the show has aired?
I’m still working Red Café, Terrence J, I still work with Fab as well. I’m working with Teairra Mari. I have a new client, Robinson Cano, who’s the second baseman of the New York Yankees. I’m still doing my personal shopping. Being a mother and also trying to start my own line, it’s just been a lot going on and I can’t wait to get a break. And we’re still actually filming, so it’s insane. It’s still more to come, and I think ‘What is next? What is the next drama?’ Because I know it’s not going to end with things lovely (Laughs).
Does it ever baffle you, do you think ‘I can’t believe that we’re all grown women and there is all this drama all the time?’
Yeah. It definitely does because I try to shy away from that and sometimes that comes across as ‘Oh of course she’s not going to say nothing,’ but the truth is that I have a teenage daughter and I could never be on TV bickering like a teenager. I’m not doing it, and that’s not who I am or want to portray.
A lot of people fell in love with your kids when you had them on the set to do a photo shoot.
My son is so bad.
But he is so cute. It’s okay to be bad and cute.
He is cute and oh my God, he’s my everything. But he does not come on the show this season because I got so much backlash from my son acting out on TV. I wanted to pinch him last season like, ‘Cut it out!’ But you know you can’t do that when the cameras are rolling.
But then they would have criticized you for spanking him.
What do y’all want me to do, just beat my child? I can’t do that! First of all, the cameras are rolling and I was frustrated and it was just a lot going on. He was really acting like a two-year-old and I’m OK with that and I understood it, but everybody else ridiculed it ‘Oh she can’t control her own child!’ Actually I can, but the cameras are rolling (Laughs).
Is there anything else that you want to share with us before we go?
I just hope everybody can go with me through this journey, and I hope that I can make a few women say ‘If Emily did it, I can do it too.’ That’s it. I’m good then.
