Source: Maury Phillips / Getty
We really haven’t seen or heard from her since then. That’s because three years after the show aired, Danger, whose given name was Monica Leon, took a nine-year break from the industry to raise her daughter. Since then, she’s gotten married and had another child. And during the pandemic, she took some time off to be a stay-at-home mom.
In her first interview in nine years, she spoke with Storm Monroe about her experience on the reality show, how she perceived Ray J at the time and how being a reality star in her early twenties was a very bad experience for her.
Was she attracted to Ray J
He was very attractive before I got to know him. He’s a good looking guy, he’s successful, he seemed like a nice person, why not? I didn’t go on the show to fall in love with him. I wanted to do something in the entertainment industry. I wanted to do some acting, some modeling. But I did kind of develop feelings for him but it was short lived.
Was Ray J the same on and off camera
Honestly, I didn’t really get to know him. We were shooting for a month, we didn’t really have any alone time together. There was a whole bunch of crazy stuff going on. Then after we stopped shooting, I didn’t hang out with him. I didn’t spend any time with him at all. I was in a relationship right after the show.
Was it true that she dated Nick Cannon’s brother?
Yeah. We have a child together. It’s his half-brother.
How friends and family reacted to her being on the show?
I think they were as supportive as they could be. But after filming, as far as my family, it was not great. It was really bad for everybody. They didn’t enjoy the negative press that I got, the online shaming that I got. It made them look bad. My parents didn’t handle it very well. It was an embarrassment No one really enjoyed being in the spotlight. It was a bunch of horrible things that they were saying. It didn’t go well. It wasn’t good for my life.
And you have to think about it, I was really young. I was 22. I didn’t know how to handle press or how to find the right manager, who wasn’t going to take advantage of me. People would say, ‘Hey I can get Danger to come to your club.’ And they didn’t even know me. So I was getting a bad reputation for taking people’s money.
There was a ton of blood-sucking activities going on and it left a bad taste in my mouth.
Being famous with no money
I couldn’t really go anywhere without being mobbed, which wasn’t good for my family or my relationship. And what people don’t know about reality shows is that, they don’t really pay you. Ray J made money but we didn’t make money like that. It was a very small amount. I got paid for appearances but I would have to travel all over the country to make that money. It was all busted opportunities with people who just wanted to take advantage of me.
The inspiration behind the tattoo
Do you want the PG version or the real version? I wanted to make myself uglier. I thought I would have more of a normal life if people were afraid of me or found me to be less attractive. It worked against me. It made people more drawn to me and wanting to talk to me.
Whether she would ever have it removed
I cover it up with makeup all the time. I did get a consultation to get it removed but since I’m a woman of color, the pigmentation could be lighter than the rest of my face. So I decided that’s really not worth it. But I still like it. It’s a part of me. It’s so engrained in who I am at this point in my life. Maybe down the line I might get it removed but I love it so I don’t think I’ll be doing that any time soon.
The experience overall
It really hindered me more than it helped me. There were a few good things that came from it but overwhelmingly, it was a horrible experience. It really just made me give up on my dreams.
But I wouldn’t do anything differently, it was all a means to an end. Now, I’m at a place where I’m happy. But it took 33 years for me to get her.
Now, Danger has a newly launched YouTube channel where she discusses, makeup, skincare and extreme cleaning and mommying. You can follow her at A Dangerous Life. In one of her earlier videos, she shared that being on the show even affected her employment as she would get fired once her employers Googled her.
You can listen to her full interview with Storm Monroe
