Lil Kim has had many looks over the years, but fans were shocked yesterday when the legendary rapper posted new photos to Instagram looking virtually unrecognizable.
1 of 9

lil-kim-plastic-surgery-tragic-self-esteem-struggles-pp
Photo credit: Splash/Instagram
2 of 9
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEmWuB2vsVu/In addition to her surgically altered face, Kim sported blonde hair, blue eyes, and drastically lighter skin, leaving followers scratching their heads. "Omg Kim why," one concerned party wrote. "Ur so beautiful just love your self we all do ur perfect the way u are."
3 of 9

lil-kim-plastic-surgery-tragic-self-esteem-struggles-06
But self-acceptance does not come easy to the 40-year-old, as she revealed in a 2000 interview with
Newsweek. She admitted that from a young age, her father made her feel like she wasn't good enough. "Everything about me was wrong--my hair, my clothes, just me."
4 of 9

lil-kim-plastic-surgery-tragic-self-esteem-struggles-05
However, it was not just her father who put Kim down. Romantic interests also degraded her self-esteem. "All my life men have told me I wasn't pretty enough — even the
men I was dating," she confessed.
5 of 9

lil-kim-plastic-surgery-tragic-self-esteem-struggles-04
"And I'd be like, 'Well, why are you with me, then?'"
6 of 9

lil-kim-plastic-surgery-tragic-self-esteem-struggles-03
"It's always been men putting me down just like my dad," she added.
7 of 9

lil-kim-plastic-surgery-tragic-self-esteem-struggles-02
And the effects lasted long after she became famous. "To this day when someone says I'm cute, I can't see it. I don't see it no matter what anybody says."
8 of 9

lil-kim-plastic-surgery-tragic-self-esteem-struggles-01
"I have low self-esteem and I always have," she said. "Guys always cheated on me with women who were European-looking. You know, the long-hair type. Really beautiful women that left me thinking, 'How I can I compete with that?' Being a regular black girl wasn't good enough."
9 of 9

lil-kim-plastic-surgery-tragic-self-esteem-struggles-07
Still, Kim stands behind her choice to
get surgery. "That surgery was the most pain I've ever been in in my life," she said, referring to her breast augmentation. "But people made such a big deal about it. White women get them every day. It was to make me look the way I wanted to look. It's my body."
Photo credit: Splash News
lil-kim-plastic-surgery-tragic-self-esteem-struggles-pp
Photo credit: Splash/Instagram
In addition to her surgically altered face, Kim sported blonde hair, blue eyes, and drastically lighter skin, leaving followers scratching their heads. "Omg Kim why," one concerned party wrote. "Ur so beautiful just love your self we all do ur perfect the way u are."
lil-kim-plastic-surgery-tragic-self-esteem-struggles-06
But self-acceptance does not come easy to the 40-year-old, as she revealed in a 2000 interview with
Newsweek. She admitted that from a young age, her father made her feel like she wasn't good enough. "Everything about me was wrong--my hair, my clothes, just me."
lil-kim-plastic-surgery-tragic-self-esteem-struggles-05
However, it was not just her father who put Kim down. Romantic interests also degraded her self-esteem. "All my life men have told me I wasn't pretty enough — even the
men I was dating," she confessed.
lil-kim-plastic-surgery-tragic-self-esteem-struggles-04
"And I'd be like, 'Well, why are you with me, then?'"
lil-kim-plastic-surgery-tragic-self-esteem-struggles-03
"It's always been men putting me down just like my dad," she added.
lil-kim-plastic-surgery-tragic-self-esteem-struggles-02
And the effects lasted long after she became famous. "To this day when someone says I'm cute, I can't see it. I don't see it no matter what anybody says."
lil-kim-plastic-surgery-tragic-self-esteem-struggles-01
"I have low self-esteem and I always have," she said. "Guys always cheated on me with women who were European-looking. You know, the long-hair type. Really beautiful women that left me thinking, 'How I can I compete with that?' Being a regular black girl wasn't good enough."
lil-kim-plastic-surgery-tragic-self-esteem-struggles-07
Still, Kim stands behind her choice to
get surgery. "That surgery was the most pain I've ever been in in my life," she said, referring to her breast augmentation. "But people made such a big deal about it. White women get them every day. It was to make me look the way I wanted to look. It's my body."
Photo credit: Splash News