Jacquie Melina Campos, the second daughter of deceased singer Jenni Rivera, recently opened up about her difficult childhood, which was marked by the absence of her father, who left after molesting her and her sister. In the video, Melina Campos also discusses her teenage years, which were filled with sexual encounters with various men.
Rivera's daughter described the blessing of getting pregnant with her daughter Jaylah Hope at a very young age. Despite trying make things work with her daughter's father, she said she ended up falling in love with a woman who introduced her to drugs and raves. After all those tough years, she found relief in religion after coming to her aunt's church, and feeling the presence of God.
Melina Campos spoke to NOTW ("Not Of This World"), a Christian based apparel company that caters to young Christians. Aurelio Barreto, its founder and CEO, introduced the late star's daughter, saying, "She's gonna be sharing her personal testimony of how Jesus has been a blessing in her life."
"I'm here to talk to you guys about God's amazing love and grace that He has had over my life," Jacquie began. "A lot of people think my life has been easy because of who my mom is, and that I have everything handed to me on a silver platter, but it's not like that." She added, "It may seem like that on the outside but it hasn't really been like that."
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She goes on to tell how her life changed the day that her dad left."Just his absence had a complete effect on me, I was empty inside. I never really knew how important a father is to his daughter until that person's not there anymore," she said.
The fact that her dad wasn't there awakened all sorts of doubts in Jacquie, who was only 8-years-old at that time. She started wondering why he may have left, blaming herself on his departure. "I was left with feelings of abandonment, like he didn't love me, I wasn't good enough for my dad and that's why he left," Jacquie said.
However, that wasn't really the case. He had left because he had molested both her and her sister, an event that young Jacquie had completely erased away from her mind, one of things she thanks God for.
"I don't remember anything of that dramatic event. And I know that that's God, his grace over me, he was protecting me since the beginning," she said. So, feeling abandoned by her father, and feeling responsible for his absence, Jacquie was determined to fill the emptiness left after such a traumatic episode.
"I started having sexual relationships at a very young age, I was probably like 14, 15 (...). Since 15 to 19, I was just all over the place trying to fill that emptiness, trying to find someone who would love me and not leave me the way my dad did. And honestly I couldn't. (...). I ended up feeling used instead of loved," she said.
When she got pregnant with her daughter, she thanked God because finally there was someone in her life who would love her no matter what.
"Thank God I got pregnant, God sent me my daughter so that I could stop that lifestyle. He sent me my daughter to love me the way that no one would. When I got pregnant, I thought 'Oh thank God. She's gonna love me forever, she has no choice,'" said Jacquie.
Though she tried to make it work with the father of her daughter, she couldn't. So she ended up giving up on guys and fell in love with a girl. "I fell hard and deep in love with this girl, but just because I was in love with her, didn't mean she was good for me. She actually took me to a lot of different new things that I hadn't experienced before, I started partying and doing ecstasy, I started going to raves, being out for days at a time, not taking care of my daughter, not loving her the way I was supposed to," Jacquie said of that relationship.
When her mom found out about her secret, she told her: "'I'm sorry but if you're gonna be in that relationship, I can't talk to you, I'm just gonna be your mom, I'm not gonna be your friend, don't come ask me for advice."
The father of her daughter found out, too, and didn't want to be with her anymore, he wanted to take her daughter away. "I was heart-broken, I was sad", Jacquie remembered of the event.
Around that time, she starte going to her aunt's church and felt God's presence. "God completely took away all my sadness and filled me with his joy," she said.
Jacquie ended her story with a message sent out to young people who, though they may have erred in the past, may feel the need to get in touch with God today: "If any of you guys feel that you need God's grace over your life, and that your mistakes have weighed you down, I urge you guys to seek him."
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