“Making it in Hollywood” may be a dream come true, but the road getting there can sometimes be paved with a lot of messed-up situations.
That’s the journey Bebe Rexha was on before she had her first hit single.
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Before that, she encountered a lot of disturbing interactions with major producers — and she just shared all of the details.
The road to fame for singer Bebe Rexha hasn’t been all glitz and glamour.
Instead, it’s been quite the opposite as the Grammy-nominated singer recently revealed to Cosmopolitan UK all of the disturbing interactions she’s had with producers over the years.
The first disturbing incident took place while Bebe (real name Bleta) was 23 and trying to break into the industry.
“When I first got to LA, I worked with a very big producer. He put me in a room with lots of other songwriters and engineers who all seemed high [on drugs].”
“One writer walked in and said, ‘Listen—you have no hits, but I have loads, so I’m going to go downstairs and party with my friends and you’re going to write a song, record the vocals and edit it. That will be our song that we wrote together.'”
Bebe said that the encounter happened at the home of producer Dr. Luke.
The music producer, whose real name is Lukasz Sebastian Gottwald, has been accused of sexual assault by singer Kesha.
The producer — who’s also worked with Katy Perry, and Miley Cyrus — has denied all claims .
He’s even filed a countersuit alleging defamation against Kesha and her mother.
Speaking of Kesha’s mother, Bebe told “Cosmopolitan” how Kesha’s mother, Pebe, warned Bebe not to work with him.
“I remember being at a dinner party with [Kesha and her mother, Pebe Sebert]. Her mom came up to me and whispered, ‘Don’t do it.’”
“She was talking about working with Dr. Luke. The music industry can be a dark place, and she could have been trying to stop me from getting in her daughter’s way. But I listened and honestly? Trusting her was the best thing I ever did.”
When asked about what happened to Kesha, Bebe said: “I was scared that could have been my situation.”
Sadly, her experience with Dr. Luke wasn’t the only disturbing one.
“There was a producer who would come into the studio and massage my feet,” Bebe told Cosmo .
“One time he tried to go above my knees and was getting a little rough, [so] I pulled my feet away. He said, ‘Nah, I’m going to do what I want’. But I was raised to never let someone touch my body if I don’t want them to.”
That wasn’t the only time this producer crossed the line.
Another time was when he had his assistant phone her in the middle of the night to say that he wanted to buy her a sundress to wear without any underwear.
Her former management team was no help. They even encouraged her to work with him in order to get a hit song.
“My former managers said, ‘Just work with him, you need a hit song.’”
But nothing was as terrifying as the night Bebe thought that she was going to be raped.
“There was one night. I was alone in the studio and a [different] producer had a group of five or six guys with him. I had heard things about him from his past and I just couldn’t take it anymore. I felt like I was going to get raped. I quietly called myself a taxi from the recording booth, which was enclosed, and I got the [expletive] out of there. It was the worst night ever.”
All of these disturbing encounters is what spurred Bebe to start Women In Harmony.
It’s an initiative created with the goal of helping females artists in the music industry.
So far, there have been dinners in both LA and London, which has seen singers such as Rita Ora and Charli XCX come out and attend.
“I wish I’d had someone to talk to when I was going through all of that,” Bebe said. “You need support. I want to create a safe environment for women to come together.”
In addition to the disturbing sexual interactions she’s over the years, Bebe also faced a lot discrimination when it came to her body.
“When I first got signed, the label said, ‘Are you ready to get in boot-camp shape?’ They wanted me to lose 20lb (almost a stone and a half). Back then I was so small, I was only 130lb [around 9 stone].
She said that it really messed her up, physically and emotionally.
“I was so cold all the time. I would starve myself before filming a music video.” There was even a female creative director who made the singer work out twice a day.
“She’d sit opposite me at the dinner table and say, ‘You’re not losing enough.’ All I was eating was salad.”
It wasn’t just her label who discriminated against her weight, either. Even fashion designers refused to dress her for the Grammys.
She took to social media to speak about the experience and to proclaim the message “#LOVEYOURBODY” despite the haters.
So while her road to the top hasn’t been easy, Bebe has become more self-assured on doing things on her terms.
She remains one to watch with her new album out in 2020, hopefully, another Grammy nomination nod to look forward to, and a new empowering attitude that won’t ever allow people to cross her boundaries — whether that’s body-shaming or sexual advances — ever again.
Go, Bebe!
