Lauren London has opened up about her return to acting following the death of her longtime partner, Nipsey Hussle.
In a new interview with Entertainment Tonight, the 36-year-old actress spoke about what motivated her to accept her first acting project, the upcoming movie Without Remorse, after Nipsey's passing in 2019.
"We shot it in 2019 I believe -- and forgive me, my memory doesn't serve me so well after grief and everything," she told the outlet. "Michael reached out to me as a friend and he was so unsure if I was even going to ever work again. And he was like, 'Look, I'm unsure if this is what you want to do, but I have to follow my intuition, I have to ask you if can you just read the script.'"
While Lauren admitted that she was initially apprehensive to accept the role because "there was a lot going on in my world and there were other priorities," she said that after she read the script she realized she felt a deep connection to the character Pam — who she plays in the film — and her story.
"I saw throughout the film she comes to [Michael's character, John] and... her love for him is still guiding him and I felt so connected to that just in my own personal experience that I felt like I could contribute here," Lauren shared. "Moving forward in my life, I kind of don't want to do anything that I can't really truthfully contribute and I felt like I could truthfully contribute to this project."
Beyond her connection to Pam, Lauren — who shares 4-year-old son Kross with Nipsey and 11-year-old son Kameron with ex-fiancé Lil Wayne — said it was her children that truly inspired her to get back to work.
"We can't stop, you know? We do have a purpose, all of us, and it's important for my sons to see me moving forward with grief, not just curling up in a ball, because I curled up in a ball for a long time," Lauren said.
She added, "But especially for my eldest son because he's just a little more aware ... But we will continue moving on as we had to, as he would want us to."
Nipsey, whose real name was Ermias Asghedom, was fatally shot at the age of 33 on March 31, 2019 outside of his clothing store in Los Angeles.
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