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Who is Kidada Jones?
An actress and fashion designer, Kidada Jones attracted attention when she styled the ‘King of Pop’ Michael Jackson for the cover of the magazine Vibe. When it comes to her acting career, she is perhaps still known best for her role as Brandy in the 1999 drama “Thicker Than Water”, starring Ice Cube and Fat Joe. However, Kidada’s name remained etched in public because of her connection with celebrities including Tupac, LL Cool J, and Leonardo DiCaprio.
More about her life and her career, you’ll find in this article.
Early life, family, and education
Born Kidada Ann Jones under the zodiac sign of Aries on 22 March 1974, she’s today aged 49. A native of Los Angeles, California USA, she holds American nationality and comes from a family of African-American and Russian-Jewish descent. Kidada was raised by her parents, Quincy Jones and Peggy Lipton, alongside her sister Rashida.
Their father is a famous producer, composer, and arranger, who worked for Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and Michael Jackson, among many other great names. Their mother was an actress, perhaps best remembered as flower child Julie Barnes, in the series “The Mod Squad”. Rashida is also an actress, probably known best for her role as Ann Perkins in the comedy “Parks and Recreation”.
Quincy and Peggy divorced when Kidada was 11 years old, and she lived with her father in Bel-Air, a neighborhood of Los Angeles. Quincy was married before this marriage, and after divorce from Peggy. Kidada and Rashida have five half-siblings, namely Jolie, Rachel, Martina, Quincy Junior, and Kenya, the youngest born after Quincy divorced Peggy, from Quincy’s relationship with Nastasjja Kinski.
Kidada had an interest in fashion from an early age, and upon matriculating from high school in 1992, she enrolled at the Fashion Institute for Design and Merchandising, but left the school aged nineteen and began working with the famous designer Tommy Hilfiger – Kidada worked as Tommy’s muse for eight years.
Acting career
Kidada made her acting debut as Jesse in the 1999 movie “Black & White”, starring Ben Stiller, Claudia Schiffer and Allan Houston, which followed the story of a group of white high school teens who become involved with the African-American hip-hop crowd from Harlem.
Later that year, Kidada was seen as Brandy in “Thicker Than Water”, followed by her role as Aloha in the 2000 comedy “Intern”, starring her mother, Peggy Lipton. Two years later, Kidada was cast to play Sasha in the crime drama “Empire”, written and directed by Franc Reyes.
She was next seen as Gordon’s sister in the 2004 drama “Proud”, the true story of one of only two US Navy ships with African-American crew during World War II. The movie, starring Ossie Davis, Jeffrey Nash and Albert Jones was nominated for the Black Reel Award for Best Independent Film.
Most recently, Kidada was seen as herself in the music video for the song “Part II (On the Run)” by Beyoncé and Jay-Z, in 2014.
Love life and her relationship with Tupac
Back in 1992, Kidada began dating actor and rapper James Todd Smith, better known by his stage name, LL Cool J. Their relationship lasted until 1994, and he stated in his autobiography that they separated because they believed in different things, without specifying.
In early 1996, Kidada began a relationship with Tupac Shakur, whose birth name was Lesane Parish Crooks; the late rapper and actor is widely considered one of the most influential musicians of all time when it comes to rap music. The two met in a club, and soon began dating. An interesting fact is that before they met, Tupac criticized Kidada’s father for having relationships with white women, saying that this messed up all of Quincy’s children. When he met Kidada he apologized, and gave her his phone number, hoping that she’ll call him.
On this day in 1996 2Pac traveled to Florence, Italy (the birthplace of Niccolò Machiavelli) with Kidada Jones.
Tupac spent his last day in Italy at the Hotel Stazione Leopolda and then attended the Armani fashion show. pic.twitter.com/DPe3ZdmyyO
— 2pacunlimited.eth 𓃮 (@2pacunlimited) July 3, 2023
At the time, Tupac was still in a marriage with Keisha Morris, but when their divorce was finalized, he proposed to Kidada.
Kidada and Tupac were living together in a rented house in Calabasas, California. She was in their Las Vegas hotel room when Tupac was shot on 7 September 1996, and was one of the last persons he spoke to before entering a coma. According to her, she asked him does he know how much she loves him, and Tupac nodded his head and fell into a final coma.
Kidada stated that he was the love of her life, and that his death was the most horrible thing that ever happened to her. Kidada was by his side when Tupac died from his injuries on 13 September 1996 – three days later, Kidada tattooed his face on her arm.
In 1999, Kidada was in a brief relationship with the famous actor, Leonardo DiCaprio. In 2003, Kidada married Jeffrey Nash, an actor whom she met on the set of the movie “Proud”. Their marriage lasted until 2006 – they didn’t have children together.
Since then, she’s been rather quiet on the dating front, and as of July 2023, it seems that Kidada is single.
What is she doing now? Net worth
Kidada works as a designer for The Walt Disney Company. She found fulfillment in making Disney cool not just for children, but also for grown-ups. It all started by ironing an old image of Alice in Wonderland onto a T-shirt that her friend, Nicole Richie, wore at the Coachella festival. Her work expanded into a line of clothing and jewelry for adults, all Disney-themed, called Kidada for Disney Couture.
It isn’t clear if Kidada will continue her acting career, but as she put it, her job as a designer who works with Disney is a dream come true. Kidada has no social media accounts, thus it’s hard to find more facts about her life, however, there is a fan page which is frequently updated.
If you’ve wondered how rich Kidada is, according to sources, as of July 2023, her net worth has been estimated at over $3 million.
