DJ Spinderella Says Exclusion From Salt-N-Pepa Film Made Her Feel “Inferior”

DJ Spinderella opened up about exclusion from Salt-N-Pepa’s biopic and her relationship with Cheryl “Salt” James and Sandra “Pepa” Denton.

During her interview with Hollywood Unlocked, Spinderella, whose real name is Deidra Muriel Roper, revealed that the fallout from being left out of the film had triggered emotional issues within herself, including depression.

“I was very upset. This played out in different ways for me,” Spinderella revealed. “I’ve definitely had depressions about it, bouts. I’ve had self-esteem issues. I had confidence issues. It was trickling into my relationship, and thankfully, I have a great, supporting partner, and he knew.”

The DJ replaced Salt-N-Pepa’s original DJ in 1987 when she was just 16-years-old. Since then, she toured with them and even produced several songs of theirs. Her long history with the group and her exclusion from the film left the now 49-year-old feeling inferior to James and Denton.

“It makes you feel less than a person. It makes you feel inferior. You have an inferior complex. You have confidence issues. You have low self-esteem — never believing that I was good enough, always having to prove, overprove. And never getting that acknowledgment, so yeah, those are the effects of that behavior.”

Despite how her former groupmates made her feel, Spinderella says that she has moved forward from the group’s decision to exclude her and likes “not being in an abusive relationship” with them. She also reiterated that her speaking out was merely her truth and not a publicity stunt.

She also addressed not being honored along with Salt-N-Pepa for their lifetime achievement award.

“You’re going to tell it like I wasn’t there when I was? This is why the viral attention is happening because people’s memories are being f*cked with. History is being written right now, and you’re okay with re-writing it to satisfy whatever your ego tells you I did to hurt you. I don’t know what that is. There was no issue that should warrant that behavior.”

Spinderella initially blasted the film in January in a flurry of tweets.

“Back when Salt n’ Pepa was building our legacy, which is rooted in empowering women, I could not have dreamed that this same group would one day disempower me,” she said in one of her tweets.

There’s nothing more unacceptable than a woman being silenced by another woman. It is for this reason, I will not be supporting it.

— Spinderella (@Spindeezy) January 22, 2021