Lauren London has posted a heartbreaking tribute to her late boyfriend, slain rapper Nipsey Hussle.
In one of her first public statements since the rapper’s April 11 memorial service, London shared a black-and-white picture of the two together on the red carpet, sharing a loving look.
“Missing you,” she wrote in the caption.
As People magazine noted, Lauren London delivered a tearful eulogy to Nipsey Hussle at his memorial service, saying he was the love of her life and reading a text message she had sent him a few weeks earlier.
“I want you to know I feel real joy in my heart when I’m around you. I feel safe around you. Protected. Like a shield over me when you’re around, I am totally myself when I’m with you,” the 34-year-old actress read to the tens of thousands of people in attendance at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
“You’ve made me into more of a woman. You’ve given me an opportunity to really love a man.”
Lauren London has been in the spotlight since the shooting that claimed the life of her boyfriend of six years. Just a few weeks before his death, Nipsey Hussle had been profiled in GQ and was photographed alongside London. The article told the story of how the couple first got together in 2014 when Lauren London was starring in BET’s The Game and was trying to buy Nipsey’s mixtape for her co-stars as a wrap present. Nipsey was selling copies for $100 each, hoping to profit from the scarcity of the hot album, but London was determined to find it.
Lauren London was able to get her hands on a copy then started following Nipsey on Instagram. They shared some DMs, and the relationship grew from there. The couple was together since 2013 and had a daughter together.
London was one of her boyfriend’s biggest cheerleaders, praising his music and the message it carried. She also said he was meant to serve a larger purpose in the rap world than the violent lyrics he once featured.
“He’s gotten more of a platform to be really clear about his message, because before he was just making rap gang-bang music. But I think he has a purpose in all the raps, and that’s coming to light,” she told GQ.
Lauren London has paid tribute to Nipsey Hussle after his death as well, recently showing off a tattoo on her forearm bearing his face.