'We had no secrets': Coolio’s partner Mimi Ivey reveals she was aware of his numerous affairs
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: The 90s Grammy-winning rapper Coolio died aged 59 on Wednesday afternoon, September 28, and the paramedics found him in the bathroom of his friend's home in LA from a suspected cardiac arrest. Many people from the industry and his sea of fans flooded the Internet with heartfelt tributes remembering the pioneer of the genre. Now, his long-time partner has opened up about her happy memories with Coolio, her grief, and her shock.
Mimi Ivey got candid with Daily Mail as she talked about her decade-long partner and the 'West Up' rapper's personality, her memories, and happy moments. Mimi revealed that the 'Gangsta's Paradise' rapper will be cremated and will not be having a funeral as per his own instructions to his family. The 41-year-old mother of three said about Coolio, 59, "We were best friends. We would talk about everything and joke and laugh about everything. There was never a dull moment being with him. He was an eccentric, a storyteller. He loved life. He loved his family, his career, and he loved to make people smile."
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Fans mourn Coolio after legendary 'Gangsta's Paradise' rapper died at 59
Mimi remembers the time she first heard that Coolio is dead. She said, "I just remember all of the air and life coming out of my body. I was outside, getting ready to take my son to football practice. All I remember was dropping to my knees. I collapsed." Coolio, whose real name is Artis Leon Ivey Jr, and Mimi first met in 2004 when the latter was an exotic dancer, chef, and entrepreneur, who wasn't really interested in rappers. However, Coolio was not backing out. Mimi said, "He was very persistent. He wouldn't let me go. I just woke up and he was in my room serving me breakfast in bed. I was a little confused. It's hilarious now, I love having that memory. He said, 'You're officially my girl. You're mine. You belong to me. We belong together. It's us.' And I said, 'Okay.'"
The couple, even though Mimi took Coolio's last name, was never officially married. Mimi explained, "We went to the courthouse, we filled out all of the paperwork and we were planning on it. But we just decided not to turn it in/ It's just a piece of paper that doesn't change how either one of us felt about each other." Despite the lack of a tag. Mimi explained that Coolio took on the role of being a father properly. She continued, "My daughter asked him to be her father, they had a discussion about it, and he chose to take on the role as her father," she said. "He embraced that role 100%."
Mimi reflected on the time when the couple appeared on 'Celebrity Wife Swap' and things got so wayward that they ended up separating for four months. She said, "Yes, we had our ups and downs. But I don't care who you are, if you say you have a perfect relationship, then it's not real." DailyMail refers to a source who claims the rapper was seeing another woman recently, but Mimi rejected this claim by explaining, "He was who he was. If he was seeing other women, I knew about it. There's nothing that man ever did that he hid from me. We talked about everything. I knew his whole life. We had no secrets." Coolio fathered 10 children in total, including four with his first wife, former LA city official, and radio personality Josefa Salinas.