The Transformation Of Blac Chyna From A Teenager To 33 Years Old
Blac Chyna may be famous for being famous, but she's somehow managed to stay in the spotlight for over a decade. Reality TV fans probably know Chyna best for her love triangle with Kylie Jenner and their mutual ex, Tyga, or for her romance with Rob Kardashian. Because of that, it's safe to say that Chyna's personal life is what fans are interested in, and she never fails to give the people what they want. Not only is she super open about her Kardashian drama (and there's lots of it!), but she's also starred in two reality TV shows, "Rob and Chyna" and "The Real Blac Chyna."
According to Chyna, she just wants the opportunity to show people the real her, which she says is a lot different than how she's portrayed in the press. She told Elle, "I'm not just a pretty face or what some people paint me out to be: this bad person, this stripper ho. I want them to see me as a mom, a businesswoman, a growing being."
Sure, Chyna has definitely had her fair share of challenges to overcome, but that hasn't stopped her. Chyna is all about the hustle, explaining, "I don't care if it's one dollar or a thousand dollars, I'm going to go out and get it." That kind of attitude has brought her a long way from her start in Washington, D.C., to the reality star, model, and businesswoman she is today. So, let's take a look back at Chyna's transformation over the years.
Blac Chyna grew up in Washington D.C.
Blac Chyna wasn't always Blac Chyna. In fact, she was born Angela Renée White on May 11, 1988, in Washington, D.C. Her parents, Eric Holland and Sharlana Hunter, aka Tokyo Toni, appeared to have had a rocky relationship throughout Chyna's childhood. The Daily Mail reports that not only did Holland cheat on Tokyo, but he's alleged to have 11 children with several other women and was also in and out of prison for a lot of Chyna's life.
Yet Chyna has apparently remained close with both parents — when she and Rob Kardashian were together, she even took him to visit her mom and dad. It seems that the reality star's relationship with her mother can be rocky, though, as evidenced by a 2018 video of Tokyo viciously blasting her daughter. The Shade Room captured the footage from Tokyo's Instagram Story. "Birthing you, b***h. That was a mistake, just happened to come into play," she said.
Outside of Chyna's rocky home life, she was your average teenager who attended high school, and she had an after-school job working the cash register at McDonald's by age 15. She told Elle, "Normally you start on fries or burgers, but I was never back there. I guess it was because of my personality." She continued to work at other fast-food restaurants through her teens before landing a gig waitressing at Hooters. "I always liked having my own money and buying my own stuff," she dished, adding, "I didn't want to depend on somebody to do it for me."
By age 18, Blac Chyna began stripping
By age 18, Blac Chyna had graduated high school and was ready to attend Johnson and Wales University in Miami. But according to Elle, she had to defer her admission since her parents didn't have enough money to pay her tuition. Chyna decided she'd come up with the cash herself and in 2008 began stripping at a local club in Maryland to do so.
It took about two years, but her plan worked. By 2009, Chyna was living on campus, per Cosmopolitan. She attended classes during the day but continued to earn money by stripping at night in Miami clubs. The then-20-year-old eventually wasn't able to keep up with both, though, telling Elle, "I was falling asleep all the time in class. It wasn't working out for me." She ended up dropping out to strip full-time, a decision her mother agreed with. Chyna dished, "My mom used to be a stripper, so she was like, 'If this is what you want to do, be the best at it.'"
And the best she was. Not only did she later land a job at the prestigious King of Diamonds gentlemen's club, frequented by famous rappers, but she did it for six years. On "The RuPaul Show," she said she didn't mind stripping since she was bringing "joyness and happiness" to people's lives. It's also how Chyna got her famous name. She revealed she had started out with the stage name Cream, but switched to Blac Chyna after she danced for someone who shared this name.
The model got her big break at 22
In 2010, a then-22-year-old Blac Chyna's career really started taking off, partially thanks to a Drake song. In the lyrics of his hit "Miss Me," the rapper name-dropped Chyna: "Call up King of Diamonds and tell Chyna it'll be worth the flight." MaseTV reports that this made Chyna "one of the most sought after" strippers at the club. Angela Lee of "The Breakfast Club" radio show later told Elle that while Chyna wasn't "an overly enthusiastic stripper ... she had such a distinctive look—she looked like someone who was going to be famous."
Chyna's unique appearance made her big money. "The most I've ever made in one night is $15,000," she revealed. That September, Chyna's looks took her from stripper to model when she landed her first magazine cover for Dimepiece. From there, she went on to grace the covers of Straight Stuntin' and Black Men magazine soon after.
Yet it was in November 2010 that Chyna really proved she was a star on the rise after she was cast as Nicki Minaj's body double in Kanye West's music video for "Monster." The mom-of-two recalled to 305Honeys, "That day, it was so crazy," adding, "It was kind of scary in the beginning ... But then when Nicki got on the set, I was good." If you're wondering why you don't see her in the video, Chyna explained to XXL (via The 305), "They actually put her head on my body so it would look like she was rapping to herself."
At age 24, Tyga entered her life
In 2012, rapper Tyga entered Blac Chyna's life when she was 24 years old. Chyna told Elle that the "Taste" hitmaker had been after her for months, but she wasn't sure if she was interested. She recalled, "He wanted me to go on tour with him and Chris Brown. I'm like 'No ... I don't know what type of game you think this is.'" However, she decided to give the romance a chance after she appeared in Tyga's music video for "Rack City." At first, it was about business, with Chyna revealing she made $2,500 from the job. "I should've gotten more," she joked. "He's kinda cheap."
Yet she must have been smitten enough because Cosmopolitan reports that the two seemed inseparable afterward, making several public appearances together at basketball games and nightclub events. In March 2012, they took their relationship a step further by appearing as a couple on the cover of Urban Ink magazine. Around that time, Chyna left the Miami strip club scene and moved to Los Angeles.
It appears their relationship moved rather quickly from there — by the end of 2012, the couple had welcomed their son, King Cairo. Tyga bought them a $6.5 million family home in Calabasas (made famous by the Kardashians), and the two got engaged in December. Angela Yee dished to Elle, "It was like 'Pretty Woman,' The girl made it out of the strip club, and now she's a mom, dating a rapper who wants to marry her. That never happens."
Blac Chyna launched businesses at age 25
By 2013, it appeared that a then-25-year-old Blac Chyna didn't want to be just a rapper's fiancé/baby mama, so she decided to pursue a career of her own. According to Cosmopolitan, she started that process by enrolling in JLS Professional Make Up Artist School, and later that year, she launched LASHED by Blac Chyna, a brand of fake eyelashes. That was just the beginning of her beauty empire — the next year, Chyna opened a beauty bar in California that offered makeup tutorials and beauty treatments.
Chyna explained to Right On! why she started the business, saying, "Lashed was a concept that I came up with to fulfill my love for all things beauty." The TV personality revealed that her love of makeup began in high school and it was because "I love channeling different looks." Chyna's beauty line appears to still be doing well as of January 2022 with over 230,000 followers on Instagram.
It wasn't just through her burgeoning beauty empire that Chyna was bringing in her own cash. In 2013, she launched the clothing boutique 88 Fin and used her popularity to model the line. The TV personality dished, "I was always into clothes and glam, especially being from DC." When it comes to doing business, Chyna claimed, "I am very particular and organized. I write everything down and love being prompt with things." She would later launch another clothing line called Blac Chyna's Closet, which she promotes on Instagram, proving the hustle never stops for the former stripper.
When she was 26, Tyga left her for Kylie Jenner
By the time Blac Chyna was 26, she and Tyga were over, and soon the rapper was romancing a then-teenage Kylie Jenner. Tyga denied the rumors at first, tweeting he's "been friends with the [Kardashian-Jenner] family forever," but he and Kylie later went public with their romance after Kylie turned 18. Chyna's bestie, Amber Rose, defended her friend, dishing on "The Breakfast Club," "[Tyga] should be ashamed of himself. ... He has a beautiful woman and a baby and left that for a 16-year-old that just turned 17."
Chyna later revealed on "The Wendy Williams Show" that Tyga never cheated but said "something did kind of expedite" their split, referring to Kylie. She added that she learned of their romance after she was "thrown out" of the home she shared with the rapper, saying, "The way that it went about, like publicly, wasn't right. Even not publicly, it wasn't right." So seemingly began Chyna's feud with the Kardashians, as well as the end of Chyna's previous friendship with Kim Kardashian in particular. Chyna explained, "After that happened, that's when, of course, the family was kind of like, 'all right, well bye, girl' and threw me underneath the bus."
From there, Chyna, Tyga, and the Kardashians would use social media to troll each other, up until Chyna got together with Kylie's brother, Rob Kardashian. Yet Chyna claimed it wasn't because she was upset about losing Tyga, telling Elle, "Thank God I'm out of that situation. ... because my life has changed so much for the better."
The music video star dated Future when she was 27
When Blac Chyna was 27, rumors swirled that she had moved on from her ex-fiancé Tyga to another popular rapper, Future. The two apparently got together after the model starred alongside the singer in the music video for his 2015 song "Rich $ex." The video coincidentally premiered on Tyga's birthday, November 19. TMZ reported that Kylie Jenner briefly broke up with Tyga that same day, seemingly marking a win for Chyna in her feud with the couple.
Chyna must have really been smitten with the "Mask Off" rapper, though, since she tattooed his name on her hand mere weeks after the start of their rumored romance. According to ET, she debuted the ink in a photo on her Instagram but then deleted it. Despite her later attempt to play it off as just a Sharpie drawing on her SnapChat (per TMZ) and trying to cover it with gloves while at events (per The Daily Mail), it seemed Chyna may have gone a little too far.
The commitment in writing didn't signify the start of a lasting love, as Future tweeted soon after, "Single & focusing on what makes me happy." It seems that the couple was over faster than they started, but Chyna was stuck with the memory tattooed on her hand. However, in 2017, she had Future's name removed and replaced it with her daughter Dream's name, so she managed to make something beautiful out of a somewhat embarrassing situation.
By age 28, the reality star was dating Rob Kardashian
In early 2016, Blac Chyna sent reality TV fans into a frenzy when she began dating Rob Kardashian, the brother of her rumored enemies. According to E!, the two confirmed they were a couple on Instagram in January 2016, and by the next month, Rob was already making plans to move Chyna into his Calabasas home. That March, the couple had their first public fight of many. These clashes usually consisted of them deleting all their Instagram photos together, publicly bashing each other, breaking up, and then getting back together. For that specific fight, Rob explained on Instagram (per E!), "We just feel like it would be a lot healthier for our relationship if we kept a lot more to ourselves." Ironic for a couple who would later get their own reality show.
Of course fans of "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" know that Rob's sisters weren't pleased that he was dating Chyna because of her drama with Kylie Jenner and Tyga. It didn't help that the family found out that Rob and Chyna got engaged that year through social media. Kim dished (per People), "We wake up to all of these pictures of my brother getting engaged. ... How does our own brother not tell us?"
Fans speculated that perhaps Chyna was only dating Rob to get back at the Kardashians, but things got serious in May 2016 when the couple announced they were expecting a baby. At the time, a then-28-year-old Chyna gushed to E!, "I feel amazing, and I feel blessed."
Blac Chyna became a mom of two
The end of 2016 brought a lot of big things for 28-year-old Blac Chyna, including a reality TV show and a new baby. That September, E! premiered "Rob and Chyna," a "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" spinoff that focused on Chyna's relationship with Rob and preparations for their baby. Jeff Olde, the network's executive vice president of original programming and development, dished to E!, "Very few love stories have created as much pop culture buzz as Rob and Chyna's."
It probably helped ratings that their relationship was full of drama, with Chyna even tweeting out Rob's phone number during one September 2016 fight. However, the following month, the two put their differences aside to have a joint baby shower. Soon after in November, their daughter, Dream Renee Kardashian, was born. Dream's arrival didn't calm down the couple, though, and that December, Chyna left their home with her kids. Apparently, she and Rob had a big blowout, which reportedly turned physical. Yet true to their couple style, they were back together by New Year's Eve.
While Rob and Chyna had a lot of problems, it seemed like Chyna was most happy being a mom. The model told Rolling Out in 2021 that despite her busy schedule, "I'm a mom, first." She also revealed she "definitely want[s] more kids" to Life & Style in 2019. She elaborated, "I want to have two more, I want four total," regardless of whether she's single or not.
At age 29, she split with Rob Kardashian
If 2016 didn't provide enough drama for Blac Chyna, the next year was full of it for the then-29-year-old mother-of-two. Chyna and her then-fiancé, Rob Kardashian, began the year with multiple breakups and make-ups until all that drama came to head in July 2017. That's when Rob Kardashian accused Chyna of cheating, writing on Snapchat (via Cosmopolitan), "Come spend time with your daughter instead of f***ing me and then this dude right after. U need help."
According to Us Weekly, in the same slew of posts, Rob also accused Chyna of drug use and being neglectful to Dream, before posting explicit pictures of her. Chyna fired back on her own Snapchat, accusing him of physically abusing her. "Rob u did all this but u beat me up and try to act [like] it never happen," she wrote. The D.C. native then filed a restraining order against Rob and later appeared on "Nightline," where she revealed she felt "betrayed" by her ex.
That September, Rob and his sister, Kylie Jenner, sued Chyna for alleged assault, battery, and vandalism, with Rob accusing Chyna of choking him with a phone cord. The fight happened in Rob and Chyna's rented home, which was owned by Kylie. In a complaint filed by the Kardashians, their attorneys stated (via BuzzFeed News), "Rob suffered physical and monetary damages as a result of Chyna's callous actions and deliberate attempt to capitalize on his family's wealth and celebrity." It seemed to be the final nail in the coffin for Rob and Chyna.
If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.
The TV personality debuted music at age 30
By 2018, 30-year-old Blac Chyna seemed to be ready to move on from her Kardashian drama and decided to try her hand at music. In November of that year, Chyna released her debut track, "Deserve." She told XXL, "I want to make music that reflects me and what's going on at that present time." Chyna went on to explain that because of her reality show past, she felt she wouldn't be taken seriously as a rapper, asking people to "just keep an open eye, an open heart and an open ear."
That next year, Chyna did go back to reality TV, though, but this time the show, which was called "The Real Blac Chyna," was solely about her. She told JaGurlTV why she decided to do it again, saying, "I want people to know that I'm actually funny ... somebody might say, 'oh ok I'm this person or I'm mean,' but if they watch the show they will be like, 'oh she's really sweet.'" WeTV later picked up the show from the Zeus network and began airing reruns in 2021.
Chyna also moved on romantically. In 2018, she dated rapper YBN Almighty Jay, who was only 18 years old at the time, for around four months, per Page Six. She dated another artist, Soulja Boy, the following year, but that didn't last more than a few weeks either. After their fling ended, the rapper tweeted (via People), "Blac Chyna and I have a mutual friendship nothing more nothing less."
Blac Chyna overcame a lot by age 33
As of 2022, 33-year-old Blac Chyna is still dealing with the fallout of her relationship with Rob Kardashian. In addition to being expected in court to face the "assault and battery allegations" made by her ex (per E!), her own lawsuit against Rob and his family remains ongoing at the time of this writing. Vanity Fair reports that her lawsuit includes "accusations of assault, battery, domestic violence, defamation, and interference with prospective economic relations in regard to 'Rob & Chyna.'"
If that's not enough stress for Chyna, as of December 2021, she was being investigated by Sacramento police for allegedly threatening a woman by not allowing her to leave her hotel room, according to The U.S. Sun. But Chyna's attorney told Page Six, "This latest false accusation of criminal conduct is just the most recent in a long line of false accusations."
Things haven't been all bad for the mother-of-two, though. In addition to her makeup and clothing lines, her reality show, and her YouTube series "Cooking With Blac Chyna," she told Rolling Out that she was planning to start a CBD company, proving that business is booming. Her personal life finally seemed to be in a good place, too, thanks to her romance with rapper Lil Twin.
It's clear Chyna has managed to overcome many obstacles and stay relevant throughout the years. She explained, "You just got to be passionate about whatever it is that you do ... and if you [are] scared, still do it. At least try."