Ciara’s picture-perfect life is a case study for many women looking to replicate her joy. The global pop star has fame, fortune, and a beautiful family to come home to every day. This is after rebounding from a terrible break-up that could have easily derailed her life and career. While some have been asking Ciara for her “prayer,” the singer recently revealed to Women’s Health that the real secret to her happy life has been self-love.
WH December cover star @ciara is calling her own shots—and proud of it ⚡️ She opens up about taking control of her life and career and the a-ha moment that changed everything: https://t.co/wb66zCsN0O On stands 11/22! pic.twitter.com/h3tPV1617N
— Women’s Health (@WomensHealthMag) November 15, 2022
Ciara debuted in the mid-’00s with many other well-known divas like Rihanna, Ashanti, Cassie, and Keri Hilson. Cici’s success was driven by her killer dancing and hood girl appeal, and for a while, she complimented this with equally hood boys. Her first mainstream relationship would be with Mr. 106 & Park himself, Bow Wow. The cute pair did red carpets and scored a hit with “Like You.” Bow Wow even said they had secretly engaged on his show Growing Up Hip-Hop, although Ciara has never confirmed it. Things would eventually fizzle between the teen stars as adulthood brought with it new love.
Following Bow Wow, Ciara kept it in hip-hop, hooking up with 50 Cent. The pair collaborated on her Rodney Jerkin’s produced single “Can’t Leave Em Alone,” where Ciara proudly declared her love for the bad boys. “See, when I had a good guy, he didn’t do that much for me. Tried to be hard but that he could never be,” she sang in the verse. On the hook, she doubled down, singing, “I tried that good boy game. But the dope boy’s turning me on. It’s just that he knows what I want. So bad, I love that, I can’t leave ’em alone.” Cici and 50 never confirmed their rumored affair, which allegedly was on and off between 2007 and 2012.
Ciara helped introduce her friend Lala Anthony to her now ex-husband Carmelo Anthony when they met on the set of her single “And I.” Lala tried to return the favor in 2010 when she introduced Ciara to Amar’e Stoudemire. The pair were seen out dining and having a good time together but eventually split. He proposed to his baby’s mother only a few weeks later.
Ciara’s bad boy train continued, briefly linking up with Cam Newton before he started his family. The duo never confirmed anything but were seen out and about in Atlanta in 2011. Photos of them spending time together hit the net, but they reportedly split only a few months later. Ciara hit the ultimate bad guy in rapper Future. The king of toxic seemed to be everything Ciara described in “Can’t Leave Em Alone” and then some. He helped spark new interest in her career with the single “Body Party” that he penned for her. He also starred in the video, and the two became a tabloid and red-carpet fixture. Engagement and baby quickly followed, but Future left her three months after Future Jr. was born.
Ciara confessed in a recent interview with Woman’s Health that the whole experience left her broken, and she worried she would not be a good mother until she learned to love herself. “I can’t be the best mom if I’m not loving on myself,” she said. “So I put more focus on me, taking care of me; it was the best thing I could have done,” Ciara says this self-love has been her armor as she braves the world and what eventually led her to her husband, Russell Wilson. “I am so much better to my precious babies because of that mentality. I’m better to my husband because of that. I’m keeping my sexy up. I’m doing the things that fill me up, that make me happy, that get me going.”
Ciara’s revelation of self-love adds to the lore of how she changed her life and found Russell Wilson. She previously talked about praying for the right man as well and did a dramatic reading of said prayer on Summer Walker’s album Still Over It. On the closing track, titled “Ciara’s Prayer,” Cici said, “I need you to restore my faith in love; give me strength. I know I can’t do it all on my own; I’m tired. I don’t wanna hurt no more; I don’t wanna feel like this ever again. Thank you for hearing my cry.”
