Lauren London Remembers Nipsey Hussle on 4-Year Anniversary of His Death
Lauren London is paying tribute to her lost love, Nipsey Hussle, four years after his death.
"I hold my breath all of March knowing I have to face the memory of the day you transitioned.... Holding on to ancient wisdom but the pain is the pain and nothing was ever the same... Eternal Being. Ermias Asghedom. I Love You," the actress captioned an Instagram post featuring a black-and-white photo of the late rapper.
She went on to quote a passage from the Baháʼí Sacred Writings, writing, "To consider that after the death of the body the spirit perishes is like imagining that a bird in a cage will be destroyed if the cage is broken, though the bird has nothing to fear from the destruction of the cage. Our body is like the cage, and the spirit is like the bird. We see that without the cage this bird flies in the world of sleep; therefore, if the cage becomes broken, the bird will continue and exist. Its feelings will be even more powerful, its perceptions greater, and its happiness increased. In truth, from hell it reaches a paradise of delights because for the thankful birds there is no paradise greater than freedom."
London lost Hussle, whose real name was Ermias Asghedom, when he was shot and killed outside of his Marathon clothing store in Los Angeles and died on March 31, 2019. He was 33. London has publicly and emotionally honored Hussle on multiple occasions since his death and has worked hard to keep his memory and light alive.
Eric Holder Jr., the man accused of fatally shooting the rapper, was found guilty of first-degree murder in July, after a trial that started and ended after a years-long delay due to the pandemic.
During Holder's trial, L.A. Deputy District Attorney John McKinney said that the rapper's shooting was premeditated and deliberate, arguing that there was "no doubt" Holder had thought out his actions and shot Hussle with the intention of killing him. Hussle was shot in the head and torso, according to the L.A. County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner's Office. Two other men were also wounded, but survived the shooting.
The defendant's attorney, Aaron Jansen didn't deny that his client pulled the trigger, but argued that Holder should have instead been charged with voluntary manslaughter because "this is a case about the heat of the passion." Jansen also argued Holder shouldn't have been charged with attempted murder because he didn't intend to harm the two bystanders who were wounded as a result of the shooting.
The jury ultimately sided with the prosecution. Holder, who is facing life in prison, will be sentenced at a later date.
London -- who is mother to her 5-year-old son, Kross, with Hussle and son Kameron, 12, with Lil Wayne -- told ET back in April 2021 that it was her sons that inspired her to get back to her work as an actress after Hussle's death.
"We can't stop, you know? We do have a purpose, all of us, and it's important for my sons to see me moving forward with grief, not just curling up in a ball, because I curled up in a ball for a long time," she said. "But especially for my eldest son because he's just a little more aware... But we will continue moving on as we had to, as he would want us to."
More recently, during an appearance on the iHeartRadio podcast Angie Martinez IRL last year, the 37-year-old shared that it wasn't until she became a parent and lost the love of her life that she truly realized how precious the gift of life is.
"Growing up I didn't have such an attachment to Earth," she said, admitting that she regularly told Hussle that she expected to die before him. "But then I had my first son and I was like, 'OK, I'll stick around a little longer.'"
She acknowledged that her morbid fascination with death could be traced back to past traumas and that having fulfilling life experiences made her happier in life. And after Hussle's death, she went through a long period of depression before beginning her "rebirth."
"There was a time I couldn't take a shower, when I didn't even laugh," she revealed, reflecting on being proud of her progress since Hussle's death. "I was really in a dark space and I am someone where I don't just feel it, I go in it. I'm just proud that I'm not where I was three years ago."
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