Confessions of a Video Vixen by Karrine Steffans

Date of Publication: July 1, 2005

Publisher: HarperCollins

Summary:

            Confessions of a Video Vixen is an autobiography written by Karrine Steffans that explains her life and struggles that she went through. Karrine Steffans was born and raised in St. Thomas and started off as a young, shy, and bright straight A student who aspired to be successful one day in her life. However, on her journey to become successful, Karrine hit a few bumps. Karrine moved to the U.S and grew up getting abused by her mother and was raped by a boy she barely knew in her early teenage years. After moving out of her mother’s house, Karrine moved to Arizona with her father and in Arizona she met the love of her life, a rapper named Kool G Rap.  She moved out of her father’s house and began a relationship with Kool G Rap. She and Kool G Rap’s relationship turned abusive after the birth of their son. Not willing to put up with the abuse, Karrine moved to Los Angeles, California to change her life around and make things better. Moreover, after moving to Hollywood, Karrine regained her confidence and began relationships with rappers Ice-T and Ja Rule. However, Karrine and Ice-T’s fling didn’t last long since he began filming Law and Order. Ice told her to “do what she gotta do” in order to be successful, and unfortunately, Karrine listened.

            After Ja Rule’s wife came into the picture, Karrine and Ja’s relationship was over. Subsequently, Karrine began shooting her first music video for one of the most influential rappers to this day, Jay-Z. After an encounter in the limo, it was determined that Karrine would be the main girl in the video. After getting exposure in Jay-Z’s video, she was now preparing for her debut role in a movie, “A Man Apart.” While filming “A Man Apart,” Karrine developed sexual relationships with her two co-stars, Vin Diesel and Larenz Tate. After “A Man Apart,” Karrine literally went crazy. She had numerous sexual encounters with some of the most prominent celebrities in the world including Xzibit, Shaquille O’Neal, Irv Gotti, Mario, Bobby Brown, Dr. Dre, P. Diddy, and most importantly, Usher. Karrine and Usher were on and off for five years. The two had dozens of sexual encounters and she had fallen in love. Unfortunately, one day on their way back to the hotel, Usher had another women waiting in the hotel room. Karrine’s heart was shattered and that’s when she realized men were only using her for one thing, her body. She packed her bags, went home and made a pact that her life was going to change at that very moment.

Quote: “I wanted so badly to be a little girl minus the rape, the mother-daughter drama, and the men” (Steffans 121).

Reaction:

 I chose this quote because it’s very powerful and it explicitly shows how Karrine desperately wants to go back in time and change her life around. Subsequently, it seems as if she is blaming the rape, her mother, and the men for the decisions that she has made and the obstacles that she is now facing. I would have to disagree with her because although she was raped, and also neglected by her mom, that didn’t mean she had to go out and sleep with every celebrity she laid her eyes on. This quote is important to understand because it reflects on Karrine’s life and basically gives the reasons for why who she is. The rape and her mother’s abuse were extremely traumatizing and it affected her life in a very negative way. In my opinion, I had a feeling Usher and Karrine wouldn’t last because their relationship was only physical and they had no emotional love for one another. Karrine needs to get her life together before she gets involved with another man.

I don’t really agree with the decisions that Karrine made in her life but she learned from her mistakes and turned her life around which I give her my respect for. Confessions of a Video Vixen was undoubtedly the most interesting and page-turning novels I have ever read. Euphemism is not incorporated in the novel in any way. Instead, Karrine keeps it “real” or in other words, has a powerful sense of verisimilitude and makes her reader’s want more.