Jhené Aiko is opening up about losing her home in the LA wildfires.
During the Femme It Forward’s Give Her FlowHers Ceremony, Aiko accepted the Glow Getter Award, accompanied by her family.
“I was balanced and in a great place. And then this year, I lost my dream home that I spent a few years renovating in the LA wildfires. Then I lost my cousin Justin who I was really close with,” Aiko said. “And I lost my sweet little orange kitten.”
“It just seemed like back to back to back to back things. I was just like, ‘Okay, God, what is the lesson in all this?’”
Aiko also spoke about her childhood home being lost in a fire and her mother’s calmness during the frightening experience.
“I remember my mother, how she handled it with so much graceShe never let us feel any type of sadness or any type of sorrow,” Aiko recalled. “We kind of thought it was cool because we got to live in the Embassy Suites [with] free breakfast, indoor pool. We were like, ‘Wow, this is nice.’ So when my house burned down this year. I remember how she handled that so gracefully.”
Aiko said she’s been “in a really dark place” this year, but her “village” of loved ones got her through the difficult moments.
“I honestly cannot accept these flowers,” Aiko said. “These are their flowers.”
Aiko shares Namiko, her 17-year-old daughter with producer O’Ryan and 2-year-old Noah Hasani with rapper Big Sean. After the wildfires, Big Sean appeared on an episode of On Purpose With Jay Shetty and spoke about the miscarriage he and Aiko experienced.
“I can’t speak for a woman, their perspective is the most traumatic. But I can say that, first of all, you’re worthy. I don’t want you to think you’re not worthy,” Big Sean said. “I don’t want people to think that because they have a miscarriage that they’re inadequate or that they’re broken.”