Source: Karencivil.com

Lil Kim never really talks about her parents but despite being estranged from her father, Linwood Jones, for several years the rapper has moved her dad into her home to take care of him after he started showing early signs of Alzheimer’s Disease. In an interview with OK! magazine, Kim talked about the pressures of having to care for her ailing father.

“We have to feed him, because he can’t make his own food. He can’t really pour juice. He can get dressed, but we have to help him sometimes. Basically we have to help him do almost everything. He can walk around and stuff like that. And again, it’s early stages.”

Some days are better than most though.

“He remembers to do some things, but sometimes he forgets some things. Like one time, he forgot to turn off the stove, and the coffee pot caught on fire. We had to run and put it out. It was really crazy.”

Kim didn’t say how long her father has been living with her, but this situation could prolong her return to rap even further. For at least the past year, Kim has been faced with different hurdles in her quest to drop a new album, from legal battles with her former label to this news which she says has taken its toll on her.

“Here’s the thing – we feel and know that he has an early case of Alzheimer’s,” she said. “The doctors won’t really diagnose him with it, but we know that he does. They say that it seems to be an early case of it – this is what they’re saying. But he has this shaking-jitter condition that is almost the same thing as – don’t get this wrong, because then people will be like ‘oh, her dad has M.S.’ – no, he almost has the same symptoms as a person who has Multiple Sclerosis where they shake – they shake really bad. Yes. So it’s those type of symptoms. It stems from the situation.”

Kim is confident things will work out for the best all the way around though, and despite the past relationship she had with her father, she feels it’s her responsibility to care for him in ways he may have never done for her.

“Well, I am a child of God, she said. “I believe in God, and I also believe in the quote ‘honor thy mother and thy father.’ No matter what, I’m always going to be there for my family.”

Hopefully they’ll do the same for her.

Could you care for a parent you weren’t close to in old age?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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