While August Alsina made headlines for his “entanglement” with actress Jada Pinkett-Smith, there is much more to the singer than messy drama, including being a parent to three young girls. The singer selflessly stepped up to the plate in 2018 to raise his three nieces after the death of his sister-in-law, who was raising the girls as a single parent after Alsina’s brother Melvin was murdered in 2010. Now, the 27-year-old singer is opening up to PEOPLE about his decision to raise them and how proud he is to be their uncle-dad.
“They are beautiful kids with beautiful energy. I’m excited to see life unfold for them, and I want to be as present as I possibly can within their life while still being able to show them what it looks like to have a career,” Alsina said in this week’s issue of PEOPLE.
His nieces, 14-year-old Chaylin, 13-year-old Amaiya, and 11-year-old Kayden, came to live with him after their mother Chandra passed away on Christmas Day following a battle with cancer. His brother Melvin and Chandra were engaged to be married at the time of his New Orleans slaying, which has never been solved. Alsina admits that Chandra’s death was unexpected to him, despite the fact that she had begun to make arrangements for her death.
“It was to the point of delusion,” he said. “I was just like, ‘No way, ain’t no way that’s going to happen.’ I remember my sister asking me, ‘Would you take custody?’ I’m like, ‘Of course I will. But there’s no way you’re going to die.'” He continued, “As she was making plans to leave this earth, she texted me, ‘All this time you’ve been running from being a parent, from having kids, and now you’re forced to.’ I’m like, ‘I just play the cards that life deals me, and I’ll figure everything out.’ She said, ‘You always do.’ And she went to sleep, and that was that.”
With both of their parents being gone, Alsina is doing his best to give his “naughters” (niece-daughters) the best life possible, forcing him “to put away as much of your childish behavior as you can.”
“I’m striving to be an example for my ‘naughters,'” he said. “And I want them to know and trust that they’re going to be alright here with or without me, or without any man, without any woman, without any parent.”
Though he is happy to have his nieces with him, the “No Love” singer admits that it has not been a cakewalk, especially since he is balancing parenthood and trying to remain healthy as he battles the rare autoimmune disease Guillain-Barré syndrome.
“But I really do try to see the best in every situation and learn the lesson from every test,” he said. “I would definitely be lying to you if I told you, ‘Oh, this is how I deal with it.’ I’m still in the process of uprooting my life and letting go of old situations.”
Alsina also spoke about his decision to come forward about his relationship with Pinkett-Smith while she and husband Will were on a break, revealing that he only did so when the rumors regarding their romance began to interfere with his business ventures.
“I never really cared about what people thought of me, but my personal life started to seep into my business life. There were certain falsities about me, and it affected my business relationships. I got three kids to look after. Kill me, hate me, stone me, but bury me an honest man.”
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