Source: Prince Williams / Getty
In the new Sex Issue of The Fader Magazine Keyshia opens up about her and Gucci’s love story.
On How They Met:
In 2010, Gucci was in jail in Fulton County, and I was the XXL “Eye Candy of the Year.” When you’re in jail, you get these magazines with the sexy models, so he got the magazine, too. I had already been in Timbaland’s “Say Something” video and Gucci had seen the video. He called [his manager] Amina from jail, and he was like, “Who is Keyshia Ka’oir? I want to meet this girl.” He was like, “I’m getting out soon, I need her for my next video, you have to find her!”
A day or two later, I got a call. Amina was like, “I work with Gucci, he wants you to —” and I’m like, “Whatever.” Because I don’t even want to be around rappers. But Gucci kept asking, and eventually I agreed. When he got out of jail, they flew me to Atlanta right away to do the “911 Emergency” video. That’s the day we met. He was in love with me on sight.
When you pick ya bae out the pages of a magazine… So romantic!
On Maintaining The Relationship While He Was Locked Up:
Him being locked up over the years was hard at times, especially around birthdays and Valentine’s Day and Christmas. Those days were a bit down for me. But I knew that he was going through more than I was, so I had to be strong for him. At the end of the day, he’s a human being. Even though I’m a woman, I never broke down. I never cried to him on the phone.
Whatever businesses I was doing, I involved him. I told him my plans, what was going on. We spoke at least five to six times a day. We emailed every day. We had a schedule together, actually. He would get up, we’d both get up. We’re not seeing each other, but we’d know what’s going on. I felt like I did the time with him. We’d work out, let’s say from 8 to 10 a.m., and then by the time we shower and have lunch, he’d call. I’d ask, “What did you eat today?”
There were days that he would cheat, and then I’m like, You can’t cheat: you’re not like that! That way you wasted our whole workout and our eating together for three years. We want to lose the weight, we want to focus, we want to be sober, we want to be more business-minded. Your brand means a lot, your fans mean everything to you. You have to do great music, you’re a parent. He no longer wanted to have the gold in his mouth, and I didn’t either. That was a decision we made together. He came home and we took them out.
On Secretly Getting Gucci Home From Jail:
We knew he was coming out months before other people thought, but we kept it a secret. We didn’t even really want the lawyers to know, because we didn’t want it in the media. He was in Indianapolis, so we had to figure out how to get through the airport. They’re used to me having a mohawk, so I put some long weave in. I bought him a black jogging suit with a hat and some glasses. He was super skinny, so he looked different. I flew to Indiana two days before and I stayed in a hotel. I asked him, “Do you want security?” He said, “No, that’s going to bring us too much attention.” I rented a car by myself and I drove an hour in the woods. I picked him up alone, then drove us back to the airport in secrecy. Like some s**t you see on Lifetime.
Gucci didn’t have an ID. His ID just said Federal Bureau of Prisons. At the airport, they were like, “He doesn’t have a driver’s license.” I said, “Well, a federal prison ID is a valid ID to travel because it’s through the federal government.” I had my story together and they were like, “She’s correct.” They searched him more than they would search another person, and then people came up to us and said, “Oh, are you supposed to be the fake Nicki Minaj and Gucci Mane?” People didn’t believe it was us.
When we got to Atlanta, we got off the plane on the runway and we had a private service that took us to our home. Then when we got home, that’s when I started posting on Snapchat. That was all my plan.
