She was born while her mother, Constance, was serving a sentence in a Texas federal prison for drug trafficking. After she was born, her mother spent just three months with her in a facility near the prison before returning to complete her sentence.
Her father was also involved in a drug operation, reportedly smuggling more than 1,200 pounds of marijuana from Jamaica into the U.S.
Her parents later went their separate ways, divorcing in 1992.
This future star and TV icon spent her first few months in a halfway house before being cared for by her grandmother. Growing up, she navigated a chaotic world—moving between apartments, attending school, and learning from an early age that life often demanded resilience far beyond her years.
“I look back now and I see it in a nice light. It wasn’t uncomplicated, but I played outside, I went to the beach. There were happy, fun times,” she later reflected about her unusual childhood during an interview with Net-a-porter.
During the first time of her life, the future actress was cared for by her paternal grandparents. Later, she has emphasized that her parents provided her with a normal upbringing, despite their criminal history.
