Coolio’s longtime partner claims the rapper “saw other women” before he died – but says the two had an “understanding”.
“He was who he was. When he saw other women, I knew,” Mimi Ivey told the Daily Mail in a new interview.
“There’s nothing that man ever did that he hid from me. We talked about everything. I knew his whole life. We had no secrets.”
Although they were not legally married, Ivey took Coolio’s last name – his first name is Artis Leon Ivey Jr. — and called each other “husband” and “wife” in public.
“We went to the courthouse, we filled out all the paperwork and we planned it. But we just decided not to hand it in,” she said. “It’s just a piece of paper that doesn’t change how either of us feels about each other.”
The exotic dancer revealed that the late ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’ performer will not have a funeral, at his request, and will be cremated.
‘I respect his wishes. He wanted to be cremated. He didn’t want a funeral,” she said. “He didn’t want a memorial service. He didn’t want that.”
Mimi also recounted the moment she received the devastating phone call informing her of Coolio’s death.
“I just remember all the air and the life that came out of my body,” she told the publication. “I was standing outside getting ready to take my son to soccer practice. All I remember was falling to my knees. I collapsed.”
Rapper ‘Rollin’ With My Homies’ was found dead on the floor of his friend’s bathroom last week. He was 59.
Just days before his death, a very “engaged” Coolio took selfies with fans at the Houston airport, ahead of what would become his last live performance.
Coolio is survived by his six children and ex-wife Josefa Salina, whom he married in 1996. Four years later, the former couple called it quits.