Natalie Nunn On Motherhood, Not Wearing Makeup & 'Baddies'

Long before Natalie Nunn brought Baddies to Zeus Network, she was known for one ubiquitous phrase, “I run LA.” Made popular on Oxygen’s former Bad Girls Club show, it was the first glimpse we got the of the future HBIC and her boisterous personality. Fast-forward some years later and Natalie has produced another culture shifting moment, or should we say movement? The Baddies franchise (a spin-off of Bad Girl’s Club) on Zeus has become a viral sensation with viewership in the hundreds of millions.

Every Sunday night, fans (me included) tune in to the app to see what drama unfolds, the viral sounds that become TikTok audio and for the confessional looks that make us do a double take. Baddies has been deemed problematic for multiple reasons and the showrunners aren’t exempt from the criticism. Natalie is well aware of the Baddies rep, and has her own code of Baddie ethics, which includes knowing when to turn it off and on.

Behind the CEO moniker and baddies chain, Natalie Nunn is a mother, provider for her family, and businesswoman who has parlayed what was supposed to be 15-minutes of fame into millions. She’s now ventured into music. Her latest song, “Doin’ What I Want,” hit the top 20 chart on iTunes proving her rap career is more than a lucky spin, she might be onto something.

It seems like everything Natalie touches turns to gold. Her recent interview with Cam Newton is on it’s way to double platinum on YouTube within days, and there’s doesn’t seem like anything standing in her way. From new Baddies merch to a newly announced tour, Natalie Nunn stays in her bag and it’s one of one.

Natalie Nunn Self-Care

Natalie and I met up on Zoom. We were originally supposed to be on-camera but she explained she was bright red from a microneedling session the day before. Being in front the camera comes with a lot of perks like fame and influence but a downside of it can be the wear and tear of full makeup days. Last year, the 41-year-old mogul prioritized skin care, which included microneedling or hydrofacials. “My main goal was skincare,” she explained. “I literally was in the glam chair 90% of this year. Whether it was getting wigs put on, hair done or makeup. So this year I found a balance to do as much, I’m talking weekly, some sort of a skincare regimen.”

With a total of about 30 treatments throughout the year, she said, “my skin is the best it’s ever been. I have no breakouts. If I don’t wear makeup, it actually looks better on camera.” So much so, she revealed she went barefaced on camera on Sunday’s episode. “And that moment for me is so powerful,” she revealed. She even recommended her skincare regimen to her friend and Baddies co-star Tinkabella, who has faced ridicule because of her postpartum acne breakouts on this season.

“She’s had a whole thing with her pregnancy that caused her to have this postpartum outbreak on her face, and a lot of the baddies that she has beef with have been picking on her.” While undergoing her own treatment, she showed Tinka the process. “I said, ‘Anywhere in Philadelphia that you can find to do microneedling on your skin, you need to do it because you’re on TV and I know they’re picking on you. I see the post because I follow all the girls and it doesn’t feel good. And I know it doesn’t feel good.”

Skincare has become a form of self-care for Natalie in addition to prioritizing her mental health. On the premiere episode of Baddies: USA, Zeus CEO Lemuel Plummer announced Natalie wouldn’t be as present this season and they’re looking for leaders to step up in her absence. “This is now season 8 of Baddies for me. And and I also do other projects with Zeus,” she explained. “I just came off of a season of Baddies Gone Wild in Brazil for seven weeks away from my family. Also, it was like, I’m taking on a lot of projects and then my music is really like doing stuff. I just have so much going on.”

With other opportunities on the rise, like her mini college tour and Baddies: USA Tour, she was unsure what she would be capable of doing.

“And I’m tired. We shoot pods and scenes during the daytime and like, I’m literally flying to meet the girls in New York while they’re already shooting scenes. But getting there just in time for at least the concert. I just wanted to make it very clear that, I can’t be in 20 places at one time,” she said. “And although I’m still going to be there and I’m sure they’re going to find a way to drag me in, I don’t know how much I like literally could take it.”

Motherhood + Family

The Natalie Nunn we see on TV is very different from Journey’s mother and Jacob’s wife. She’s been married for 14 years. At her core, she’s a businesswoman but according to the USC graduate, it’s all for her family. “I really work endless hours for my daughter. And my family. I’m pretty much the foundation for my entire family,” she said. That includes her own household, her mom, dad, brother, nephew, and in-laws. “I pretty much take care of everybody,” she noted. Before she steps out of bed in the morning, she’s “doing for family.”

“And it’s not like little things. It’s big things, buying cars for people because they gotta get to their kids or they gotta drive now because the kids are in Atlanta and they have to drive an hour and 45 minutes to get to them. It’s like a lot of stuff going on,” Natalie explained.

Her work ethic is unmatched, something she learned from her mother, who she said worked two or three jobs. “I’ve always been accustomed to a mom in a household that worked, and work was to provide for her kids. Like my brother and I were my mother’s soul and main priority in life,” she said.

Despite Natalie’s public persona, her home is Baddies free. She doesn’t allow her daughter to watch (though she is trying to figure out how Journey can repeat lines from her music). Journey is home schooled. “I spend a lot of money on her having a teacher who is an African American woman whose degree is in focusing on children, development and studies, and education. So, and that’s really big for me,” she explained. And that includes extracurricular activities like Taekwondo.

“I didn’t grow up with money, but I also didn’t grow up with a parent who was a household name or celebrity.Yeah. It doesn’t scare me because I think people love me and I don’t really live in an area where people are out to get me or something like that, but I just don’t want her to ever be like, Oh, your mom’s on a show that my parents talk about.”

Balancing home life and career comes as second nature to Natalie and having a husband who she described as “private” makes it easier. “He doesn’t really like the limelight,” she said. So much so, fans have to tune in to the Sacramento Kings game where they might be seated courtside as season ticket holders to get a glimpse of him.

“People will say, ‘Go home and be a mom.’ I’m like, I actually am at home, and Journey sitting right here and we’re all on our way to go see David, the new kid, Christian movie.”

Wig Game On Lock

In the beginning of our hour-long conversation, Natalie revealed that Lemuel a.k.a Lemmy has considered cutting the glam budget on Baddies because the overhead is quite expensive. Whether it’s the colorful wigs with adornments or Tommie in a Thom Browne fit, fans tune in to see the creative hairstyles and fashion moments on the show. And Natalie knows it, too.

“I love the wigs. Oh, my God, it’s so fun to to be able to channel different looks. And be able to have fun with your fashion,” Natalie confessed. “I really enjoy different colors with my outfit, the trinkets to put in the hair. I actually just hired, Nicki Minaj’s hairstylist who did her hair for her whole tour. She’s recently been doing my hair.”

Natalie Nunn’s Evolving Style

Natalie’s style has evolved over the last two seasons. “I have a whole team now,” she shared. “They’re pretty well-established in the industry. I’m really having fun with the fashion and the hair and the glam.” As for her Baddies sisters, she revealed she loves Tesehki and newcomer Kold Killa’s fashion.”

“I love Tesehki, she’s really comes with fun looks and her hair and her team does a really good job,” she says. And Kold Killa: “She really comes with cute looks.”

Prying into her closet, Natalie revealed the most expensive bag she owns is a one-of-one crocodile LV bag. And in addition to her Chanel collection, she supports black brand like Telfar.

Spill The ‘Baddies’ Tea

The Baddies: USA cast is packed with fan favorites. From Biggie to Tesehki, the “OGs” are back following a season off. Particularly Biggie, who has a large fan base thanks to her undeniable confidence, raspy voice and boss energy, made her highly anticipated return following a “baddies timeout.” That decision was something Natalie warned production would have repercussions.

“We made a decision on Baddies Africa not to bring Biggie back. And this was not my decision. I will be very clear about that. They wanted to put her on Baddie time out. And the first thing I said was, ‘That’s a terrible idea because Biggie is our number one trending TikTok sound for Baddies.”

TikTok is a soapbox playground for Baddies viewers, who take to the platform to recap the episodes and turn soundbites into viral trends. “And I’m not talking a million. Her sounds are in the billions. It’s her voice,” Natalie noted.

When asked if she holds executive decision making power, she responded, “I’m not going to be the one making the solely the only executive decisions. That would be crazy. And I wouldn’t even want to do that. I love to be a team player and hear what the rest of the team feels.”

While discussing her strained friendship with Scotty, who she brought onto the show on Baddies South, she made it clear she and Scotty are “very different people.” They once had fun together but, according to Natalie, “the fun kind of also went away” and the relationship became “draining.”

“I just kind of tried to separate myself, because I didn’t want to be in the middle of whatever was going on,” she explained. I asked if Scotty’s relationship with Lemuel played a role in their demise and she revealed,

“Yes. For the business purposes of things, I absolutely, separated myself for many reasons, because I am a businesswoman and I don’t want to be in the middle of anything that has to do with a relationship. And my business. And Scotty was also a part of my business. So, yeah, that became very difficult. Whether it was, ‘I don’t want to be involved, please leave me out of this’ to me being dragged into the middle of something it was very difficult for me as well. When I first came to Zeus, Lemmy was in other another relationship. I just didn’t want to be in the middle of anything. I just wanted to go to work that is already messy. I wanted to do my job, and the show is a messy show. It’s very controversial. It’s very loud. I just didn’t want to be in the middle of that. I still don’t want to be in the middle of that. So I, I have a very hard time.”

She added, “I’m very happy for everybody. As long as everybody’s happy, that’s cool.”

Baddie Behavior

A major storyline this season is the demise of the “Big 3,” a trio consisting of Big Lex, Dolly and Summer. Natalie called them her “favorite villains.” She thought they were going to “piss everybody off for 20 seasons.” Therefore, she was surprised by their breakup. “But here’s the thing, it got messy. People started messing around or this happened in Africa that no one knew about. And then people start running their mouths… didn’t know any of this was happening. I had no idea. I don’t even think certain people in the big three knew things were going on,” Natalie explained. Despite the rift, Natalie believes they all care about each other.

“But Baddies can also change people, and this show is very powerful. And once you’re on the platform, I have seen this over and over again with a lot of individuals that come on, that is, they blow up overnight. They can’t wrap their head around the fame, the money,” she said.

Touching on Summer’s personality, she said, “Love Summer, she’s great reality TV, but I feel like a reality TV star has to be able to turn it off and turn it on. And it’s okay. Like, you can make little minor mistakes along the way. The environments can be very toxic and hard to to, to be in without maybe having a cocktail or two or three. But like, it just was like a lot.”

Natalie Nunn’s Music Career

“Doin’ What I Want” is the intro music this season on the show and fans unanimously agree—it’s a bop. Natalie revealed she hit the studio last summer with her husband’s brother, who also helped write a majority of her EP. “It’s definitely a huge hit. It’s insane. I don’t think people thought that ig was going to be. And, they didn’t think I was going to come like this.”

With several successful tracks and a newly announced tour, Natalie’s taking music very serious and having fun with it of course. “I’m having fun. And we just signed a deal with Live Nation, so I’m doing like a little mini tour. We start next week,” she said. “I’m going to be on the road with a couple of the Baddies, and we’re, doing venues, and we’re going to London. We sold out London in one day. I just want to have fun with the girls. I want to open up these doors for them.”

She added, “I’m working with the guy who’s putting on the Rod Wave tours. Like, they just wouldn’t have seen this coming. And feel like, ‘Hey, let’s give Lex (she’s on my EP) and Mariah Lynn and these girls the opportunity to jump on this tour too… Tinkerbell, Biggie and Kold Killa.”

Natalie hopes this tour opens the door for them to do bigger things like become opening acts for artists like the Cardi Bs of the world.

“This is all of our chance to do our big one and and really get out of the club scene,” she noted. Natalie recently celebrated her birthday and had over 5,000 attendees but she has her sights on something bigger.

“You guys want my lifestyle. You’re trying to get the pink Lamborghinis and the G wagons and the Range, listen to me. I’m right here to show you how to do it,” she promised.

Listen to the FULL interview, below: