Lil Kim has a pretty bad relationship with actress Naturi Naughton. Despite Naturi simply being an actress hired to portray her in a film, Kim has aimed her anger at the movie squarely at the former 3LW star. Kim was not a fan of how she was depicted on screen and thinks that Naughton is largely to blame for the bad look.
Naturi Naughton may be a television star these days, but in the late ’00s, she was still the girl who got kicked out of 3LW. While her group members Adrienne Bailon and Kiely Williams went on to major success with The Cheetah Girls, Naughton was basically starting over as a local actress in New York. Hard work landed her a role in Hairspray on Broadway. 2009 would become a breakthrough year for Naughton, as she scored a lead role in the big film remake of Fame, even singing the famous theme song. That same year she was also cast to play Kimberly Denise Jones, aka Lil Kim, in a Notorious B.I.G biopic.
Naughton has opened up over the years about the casting process, admitting that she did not know much about Kim or rapping and did not think she was a good fit for the role. Eventually, with some hard work, Naughton nailed her audition and was cast. The film has been historically lauded by fans, but Lil Kim has been one of its biggest haters. While Naughton admits to taking it personally for a few years, she’s eventually dismissed the hate and says she was simply hired to play a role and had nothing personal against Kim.
Kim seems to take Naturi’s portrayal very personally and has spoken at great length over the years about how much she hated it. Speaking with Necole Bitchie years ago Kim says the movie got her whole relationship with Biggie wrong. “I feel like I was not portrayed how I should have been in this movie. I was in love with BIG, and he was in love with me. I was never a JUMP-OFF,” she lamented.
Kim also took heavy issue with the casting process and how she was not consulted on who was cast to play her. ” I would have never picked Naturi; she doesn’t have a Lil Kim aura at all! She looks nothing like I looked back then. We have NO similarities.” Kim called Naturi “tasteless and talentless” and said her acting was “dreadful.” Kim took issue with Naturi never reaching out to her to get her blessing or co-sign on the role. Kim argues that a “true” actress would have done that.
“That told me right there she wasn’t right for the part, and not to mention, Naturi has got to be one of THE worst actresses I’ve ever seen, and I can’t believe they chose her. I really can’t!” Kim goes on to say that the filmmakers also skimmed out on her payments, so she had to get lawyers involved. Kim goes on to admit that the movie was more about Faith and Ms. Wallace and not really about her.
To date, Lil Kim has not had anything nice to say about Naturi Naughton. The actress has spoke on the subject numerous times, but has always been respectful to Lil Kim and her opinion.
