Lauren London, Nipsey Hussle’s Partner, Joins Red Table Talk About Gun Violence

A little over a year ago, rapper Nipsey Hussle was gunned down outside his own Marathon Clothing store in Los Angeles, leaving behind partner of six years Lauren London and their son Kross.

Appearing on “Red Table Talk” for an episode about gun violence and how it affects women, London opened up about coping with his loss and how she’s helping others with their own grief.

While most of the show was filmed before the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the death of George Floyd, host Jada Pinkett Smith began the new episode with a message referencing his killing.

“As we are witnessing our Black men being murdered in the streets, very rarely do we talk about the women that are left behind grief stricken and shattered,” she said. “George Floyd has a 6 year old daughter, a sister, a girlfriend. Ahmaud Arbery, a mother, a sister. Both men have countless heartbroken women, aunts, cousins, friends in their lives who love them.”

Sitting down with London solo, Jada asked how fans have helped her through her loss.

“I love to meet people that Nip has really inspired, it feels like he’s still here. It’s like his purpose, he’s touching people still,” she explained. “I find that when I run into people who tell me how he’s changed their life, what they’re doing with their life right now, it fills me up. He would have loved to hear that. When my kids are there and my kids hear it, they’re proud. Those are always very special moments.”

She also talked about processing her grief, saying it’s been really important for her to connect with God. “That’s been a struggle,” she admitted, “because something horrible happened in your eyes and you’re like, ‘Why God?’

“I don’t always wake up on the enlightened side of the bed and the days I don’t, I let myself,” she continued. “Because I’m human. I’m not always gonna feel so, ‘I’m gonna be okay.’ I don’t and that’s okay too.”

London said she meditates when she’s having a “bad day,” and stressed the importance of those around people experiencing loss to remind them they “matter.”

“Trauma and violence and just life can make you feel down,” she said. “To have people that love you to remind you you matter and you’ll be okay and you can do this, that’s been very important to me.”

In the year since Nipsey’s death, London has found herself speaking to groups of other young women who have been affected by gun violence. It’s something she found very healing.

“Trauma feels so lonely and just in talking to them, they gave me so much more than I feel like I gave to them,” she explained. “It made me feel not so alone and it was very magical. It was very healing.”

Noting that she grew up in a “war zone” of gun violence herself, Jada said she didn’t realize how bad it was until she “started to see how my kids were growing up versus me.” She added, “That’s not their reality, they don’t have to worry about that.”

While the conversation was mainly about gun violence, London also opened up about how she prepared her two sons — one she shares with Nipsey, another with Lil Wayne — about being Black and dealing with police.

“What I instill in them is more about the police,” she said. “How to handle yourself when you get pulled over. Protecting them, being Black men in America.”

Her comments come as protests continue across the country over the killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man who died after a white police officer kneeled on his neck for several minutes in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Video captured Derek Chauvin with his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes during Floyd’s arrest for allegedly passing a counterfeit $20 bill. Floyd was unresponsive when paramedics arrived and was later pronounced dead.

Chauvin was arrested on Friday and faces 3rd-degree murder and manslaughter charges. He and three other officers were fired in connection with Floyd’s death.