Rapper Fat Joe was able to use music to completely transform his life. But the one person who has been with him from the projects to the mansions is his long-term partner Lorena Cartagena.
The couple have been by each other’s side for over 2 decades. However, there is still some controversy about how long they’ve really been together.
In around 1993, Fat Joe was still on the rise as a rapper. He traveled to Miami to promote his single Flow Joe.
Fat Joe recalled the trip in his memoir years later. But what he really remembered about it was meeting some friends in a parking lot outside a club. This was the first time he laid eyes on the woman he would go on to spend his life with.
Lorena stepped out of a nearby car. Fat Joe wrote that as she stood in front of the car headlights, she looked like a supermodel on a stage. Apparently, Fat Joe couldn’t help but blurt out, “Oh my God, she is beautiful!”
He was 22 at the time, while Lorena was 19 years old. She was brought along that night by Fat Joe’s manager, who thought of Lorena as a little sister.
After Fat Joe’s outburst, his manager told him to back off and leave her alone. However, it proved to be love at first sight.
They even arranged a date during Fat Joe’s stay in Miami. He took her to the movies, and they had their first kiss.
Fat Joe’s Relationships Overlapped with One Another
Things quickly got a little rocky between Fat Joe and Lorena. After getting back to New York, Fat Joe decided not to call Lorena for a couple of weeks to play things cool.
This backfired after Lorena called him to tell him that he wouldn’t get away with playing her. She then said that she was flying to New York and he better be there to pick her up.
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This was how Fat Joe suddenly found himself in another serious relationship. He wrote that he had recently broken up with the mother of his second son Ryan. However, this was where the numbers stopped adding up for Fat Joe and Lorena’s timeline.
Although Fat Joe has kept some details about his kids private, Ryan was reportedly born in 1995. If he first met Lorena in 1993, when Flow Joe came out, it seems that a couple of the rapper’s relationships must have overlapped.
Despite the messiness, Lorena never seemed to resent either of Fat Joe’s eldest kids. She reportedly took them under her wing, and the couple soon moved in together.
Fat Joe and Lorena Both Have Rocky Pasts
Fat Joe made a wild discovery that changed the way he looked at his partner. At the time, a lot of his old associates were getting hit with lengthy prison sentences. Although Fat Joe had been out of the game for a few years by this point, he was becoming increasingly worried that the authorities would come for him.
One day, he stopped by a place where Lorena had told him she was visiting her family. What he allegedly discovered will shock you.
He found 20 women cutting up illegal substances as part of a crime ring that Lorena’s Colombian father was involved with. In his memoir, The Book of Jose, Fat Joe even suggested that Lorena herself had even been involved in the game.
Out of fear for their future, Fat Joe begged Lorena to put that life behind her. She eventually agreed. A short time later, her dad was imprisoned for ten years before getting deported.
Fat Joe continued to worry about his own arrest. He admitted that he feared that if he were sent to jail, Lorena would be snatched up by someone else. However, Lorena proved her loyalty to him by getting a tattoo on her behind reading “Joey Crack.”
Fat Joe was never arrested for his wild past. The couple went on to live together, first in New York before moving to Miami.
Fat Joe Was Known for Stepping Out on Women
In 2006, Lorena gave birth to their daughter Azariah. The couple managed to build their perfect lives together.
But a few years later, some crazy gossip looked like it would derail everything they had worked for. Reports emerged that Lorena had filed for divorce and the reason why was shocking.
Insider sources alleged that Fat Joe had been cheating on Lorena with Fabolous’ baby mama, Emily B. The sources claimed that Lorena had had her suspicions for a while, and even believed that she knew the identity of the woman Fat Joe was seeing on the side.
Bossip reported that Lorena “suspected Joe of cheating with a specific young Indian-looking Muslim woman from Dubai.” Apparently, Lorena was sent pictures of her man with the mystery woman by a source from Fat Joe’s Terror Squad collective.
There were even claims that Fat Joe had taken his mistress to a Knicks game. The stories about him stepping out with other women were well-known in New York’s hip-hop scene.
Although the shocking allegations grabbed the headlines, many fans also focused on another detail about the story. Lorena was rumored to have filed for divorce, but it wasn’t known if they were even really married.
There are no records of the couple’s wedding. In his memoir, Fat Joe made no reference to tying the knot. He does, however, still call Lorena his wife.
Fat Joe’s parents are known to have lived together for years without getting married. It could just be that he never saw the need to make that step.
Lorena Has Stayed with Fat Joe Through Tough Times
After cheating rumors surfaced, Fat Joe had to work hard to keep Lorena from walking out on him. The couple did eventually reconcile, and Lorena has continued to support Fat Joe ever since.
She has stuck by him during some tough times, which even included a prison sentence for Fat Joe. The rapper was sentenced to 4 months in jail for tax evasion in 2013. He also had to settle a lawsuit in which he was accused of underpaying old friend and fellow rapper Big Pun by around $2 million.
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When his memoir was released, Fat Joe made an appearance on Red Table Talk to promote his story. At one point, Jada Pinkett-Smith asked him about his 27 years with Lorena. He talked about the deal they made that helped them last so long together.
They agreed that no amount of money would ever change how they were with each other. However, some of the things Fat Joe has admitted in the past have suggested that his money has sometimes had a bad effect on him.
Fat Joe Owns His Family
In a video clip, he admitted that he felt a certain pride about being a provider for his family. To him, it was almost like he owned his family.
This led him to consider what Lorena would do if he passed away, and what he revealed raised a lot of eyebrows. He admitted that he didn’t like the idea of Lorena moving on with someone else if he passed away.
He even said that the idea that a wife should be able to move on and be happy in their own life was a “lie.” This was because he felt that after working so hard to provide a certain type of life for his wife and kids, no one else had the right to slide in and take his place.
It seems like Lorena must be happy to stay with her partner of over 25 years, no matter how many questionable things he says or does.
