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- Cardi B had one younger sister named Hennessy
- Hennessy gained fame by appearing on Love & Hip Hop: New York with Cardi
- Hennessy is now pursuing a career in fashion
Cardi B may be one of rap music’s biggest artists, but she’s not the only famous one in her family. Cardi, 30, has a little sister named Hennessy Carolina who is a star in her own right. She gained notoriety alongside her sister on VH1’s Love & Hip Hop: New York for two seasons between 2016 and 2018. She also served as a panelist on the game show, Hip Hop Squares, in 2019.
Since then, she has blossomed into a fashion force to be reckoned with, even getting an invite to New York Fashion Week in 2022. So, who is Cardi B’s little sister? Read on to learn five things about the “Bodak Yellow” rapper’s only sister.
Yes, Hennessy’s Real Name is Hennessy
Cardi B’s younger sister was born on December 22, 1995 in New York to Carlos and Clara Almanzar, immigrants from the Dominican Republic and Trinidad and Tobago, respectively. She was named Hennessy after her father showed up drunk on Hennessy to her birth and encouraged his wife to name their second-born daughter after the cognac, according to multiple reports. Clara agreed, and history was made.
Cardi’s moniker, on the other hand, is a nickname influenced by her sister. Taking to Twitter to explain her name in 2016, she wrote, “My name is Belcalis ,Growing up people called me Bacardi cause my sister name is Hennessy ..FYI.” Of course, “Bacardi” was shortened to “Cardi”, hence the stage name, Cardi B.
Cardi B And Hennessy Carolina Won A Defamation Suit
Cardi B and Hennessy were enthralled in a legal battle after a 2020 interaction with three people in The Hamptons went sour. According to the official lawsuit, which was filed in Suffolk County in Sept. 2020, the three plaintiffs claimed Carolina and her friends parked and blocked their vehicles at a beach near Smith Point, per Billboard. When the three people approached Carolina and the driver, who was Carolina’s girlfriend at the time, they alleged Carolina began filming while “shouting foul and threatening language and defamatory statements.”
One of the plaintiffs was wearing a MAGA hat at the time, and accused Carolina and her posse for accusing them of being “racist MAGA supporters,” on camera, which is where the defamation comes in. They also accused Cardi B, Carolina, and Carolina’s partner of sharing edited versions of the videos online “to remove portions thereof, and thereby hold plaintiffs in a false light, so as to tend to expose and in fact expose each plaintiff to public contempt, ridicule and disgrace and harm.”
However, the case was dismissed by a New York judge — a big win for Cardi and Carolina.
Hennessy Carolina Wants To Dress Celebrities
Hennessy left reality television to pursue a fashion and social media career. Considering that she has well over 7 million followers on Instagram and landed her first collab with Boohoo in 2018, her career shift has seemingly worked out. “I love that I could partner with a brand that represents forward fashion, that stays on trend, and that’s super affordable,” she said of her collaboration, per BET. “Working with boohoo was amazing! I’m looking forward to seeing how the campaign comes out.”
The following year, she opened up about her goals in the fashion and beauty world. “I want to dominate the fashion industry and I would eventually like to get into the makeup industry,” she told Galore magazine. “I have always been obsessed with applying lipstick on my lips. I always had plump lips, so I used to love to play with makeup when I was younger. I would always match my outfits with my makeup.”
Hennessy attributed her mom, Clara, for motivating her to pursue fashion. “My mom always cheered me on when she saw my outfits before I would head out everyday to school,” she recalled to the outlet.
She previously touched on her love of fashion as a child and her corresponding life goals in a 2017 conversation with BET (via Bustle). “Growing up, I wanted to be a fashion designer, which I’m still in school for. Like that’s what I want to be: a fashion designer,” she gushed. “My dream customer is every celebrity that’s on the red carpet. Everybody at the Met Gala and on top of that, just everybody and anybody. I would dress everybody.”
Hennessy attended the The Blonds’ Fall 2022 fashion show earlier in 2022, showing that she is taking her career in fashion seriously, and certainly being taken seriously.
Hennessy Carolina Came Out When She Was 20 Years Old
As mentioned above, Hennessy had a girlfriend when she was sued by the three plaintiffs from the altercation in New York. In her chat with Galore, Hennesey revealed she came out at 20 years old — although her parents were not supportive at first. “My parents weren’t happy about it, but I needed them to understand my life and my love and happiness. So, I sat them down multiple times and gave them the talk till they finally listened and understood that there was nothing wrong with being a lesbian,” she explained.
Hennessy came out as bisexual to the world two years later when she shared a photo of herself kissing her girlfriend at the time in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. “If you can’t accept the B In LGBTQ.. (L)lesbian (G)ay (B)BISEXUAL (T)ransexual (Q)ueer, then please don’t speak up for the community if you can’t fully understand ALL of us!” she captioned the since-deleted photo, per PEOPLE. “A bisexual girl expressing that she sometimes likes to kiss and hook up with girls especially when she gets a little loose when she drinks wine, Sounds human and normal to me! I don’t have a problem with that!!”
Hennessy Carolina Loves Kids And Being An Aunt
Hennessy once said she wants four kids, according to Cosmopolitan. While she has no kids of her own yet, she has made it super clear that she loves loving on her niece and nephew, Kulture, 4, and Wave, 1. On Kulture’s third birthday, the fashion mogul admitted she “cried” on the special day. “She is sooo smart, sweet & funny! My sunshine! I loveeee you soo much!” she penned in the heartfelt caption.
“Im always lowkey when I’m with my niece, I love spending quality time her. I be hands on with my niece all the time usually my clothes, hair and makeup ends up getting messy with paint /slime or playing for hours by the end of the day I look a hot mess,” she continued. “idc as long as we spend our real quality time together”.
And on Wave’s first birthday, she showed how much she loves him by gifting him a blinged-out electirc car. “WAVE’s 1st BIRTHDAY!” she captioned the slideshow of photos she shared from his birthday bash. “HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE MAN AUNTIE LOVESSSS YOU ‼️”
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