Halsey is an American artist who has gained a reputation for being unapologetically honest. She doesn’t mind talking about her dark past, and the things that go on in her head. Halsey is viewed as the perfect artist for a generation that needs to speak out about how they feel.
Halsey currently has two studio albums, Badlands (2015) and Hopeless Fountain Kingdom (2017). Her 2018 single, Without Me, became Halsey’s first single to hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The song is set to feature in her 2020 album, Manic.
Halsey’s openness and singing style have largely been inspired by her experiences growing up. She had a tough childhood, and her parents, Chris and Nicole Frangipane, were right in the middle of it. This piece will look at Halsey’s parents in greater detail.
Chris and Nicole dropped out of college when they were pregnant with Halsey
Halsey was born as Ashley Nicolette Frangipane on 29th September 1994 in Edison, New Jersey. She is bi-racial because Nicole is of Hungarian, Italian, and Irish descent while Chris is African-American. Chris and Nicole raised Halsey alongside her two brothers Sevian and Dante.
Chris and Nicole dropped out of college when they found out that Nicole was pregnant with Halsey, and it was harder for them to raise the kids. They had to make a living working jobs such as security and car sales.
The situation forced the family to move around a lot as Nicole and Chris searched for jobs. The family lived in cramped apartments as Nicole and Chris sometimes worked two jobs each. It wasn’t easy for the family, and at times, the house became quite chaotic. Halsey explained in a Rolling Stone interview; “I grew up in a really chaotic household. There was always shit being thrown.”
As a result of constant traveling, the kids enrolled in multiple schools. Halsey had attended six schools even before she was a teenager.
Chris and Nicole kicked Halsey out when she dropped out of college
Halsey’s childhood was quite tough, and when she was 17, she tried to commit suicide by overdosing on over-the-counter drugs. Halsey regretted the decision, and she told her parents. She was hospitalized for over two weeks at a psychiatric hospital, where she found out that she was bipolar. Halsey also found out that Nicole struggled with the same condition.
Halsey was talented in art, and she enrolled in the Rhode Island School of Design. She soon found out that she couldn’t afford to stay at the school. Her only choice was joining a community college, but she was against the idea. Halsey felt that it was a waste of time.
The biggest consequence of Halsey’s decision was that Chris and Nicole decided to kick her out of the house. However, according to Halsey, her parents’ decision was based on more than Halsey’s decision to quit college. Halsey told Rolling Stone;
The biggest consequence of Halsey’s decision was that Chris and Nicole decided to kick her out of the house. However, according to Halsey, her parents’ decision was based on more than Halsey’s decision to quit college. Halsey told Rolling Stone; “They just didn’t agree with a lot of things about me.”
Halsey was forced to live with friends, in homeless shelters, and occasionally, with her maternal grandmother. Nevertheless, Halsey managed to find her way to musical superstardom.
Despite the ejection from home, Halsey shares a great relationship with Chris and Nicole. Halsey occasionally appears with her parents during award shows and events. Chris was even Halsey’s date during the 2017 Grammy Awards.
Halsey has never tried to claim her black identity because she is white-passing
It surprises many to learn that Halsey is biracial because, as Halsey admitted to Playboy, “I look like a White girl. But I don’t feel like one. I’m a Black woman.” Halsey added that it’s been weird negotiating life looking like a white woman, but feeling like a black one.
“I’m white-passing,” she said. “I’ve accepted that about myself and have never tried to control anything about Black culture that’s not mine.” In light of the Black Lives Matter protests, Halsey faced accusations that she does not ‘claim her Black side.’
Halsey acknowledged that she is white-passing, and accepted that doesn’t face the same dangers faced by other Black people. “I’ve always been proud of who I am but It’d be an absolute disservice to say ‘we’ when I’m not susceptible to the same violence,” she tweeted.
In an interview for the August 2021 cover for Allure, Halsey stated that people shouldn’t write off her experiences due to her looks. “A lot of people try to write off a lot of my experiences because I present white,” she said. However, she added that she is aware of the disadvantages she would face if she didn’t pass as white. She explained:
“No matter how many tears I’ve shed because I’m not connecting with my family or my culture in a way that I would like to, or because the waitress thinks I’m the babysitter when I go out with my family – none of that would compare to the tears that I would shed for presenting phenotypically Black and the disadvantages and the violence that I would face because of that.”
Halsey anticipates ‘a new challenge’ raising her child alongside boyfriend Alev Aydin. “I’m biracial, Alev is Middle Eastern, and our child is going to have a Black grandfather and a Turkish grandfather,” she explained. “They’re going to grow in this kind of multicultural home.”
Nicole took Halsey to get her first tattoo
Halsey has a fair number of tattoos on her body, some of which she shares with friends. Halsey’s inspiration with tattoos came from her mother. She refers to Nicole as her artistic inspiration. Halsey told iHeartRadio;
“She’s got a full sleeve. She has her tongue pierced. She super, super cool, really beautiful, and always had tattoos when I was growing up. So I think looking up to her, I always saw it as an artistic thing.”
Nicole took Halsey to get her first tattoo when she was 15 years old. Halsey and Nicole got matching anchor tattoos. Halsey said;
“So I begged her, and begged her, and begged her to let me get a tattoo, and she took me to get one almost like a fear tactic… It’s an anchor, and it has my mom’s initials on it, and she has the same one.”