ATLANTA, GEORGIA - FEBRUARY 15: Erica Mena attends Hype Hair magazine cover release at Ventanas on February 15, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Joi Stokes/Getty Images)
<p><strong>Erica Mena</strong> is opening up to dish on her <em>Love &; Hop Hop: Atlanta </em>experience and she&#8217;s also spillin&#8217; some tea on her past relationship with <strong>DJ Envy</strong>!</p>
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<h3 style="text-align: center">Erica Looks Back On Her Early <em>LHHATL </em>Days: &#8220;I Was The Guinea Pig&#8221;</h3>
<p><strong>Carlos King </strong>shared his hour-and-a-half-long interview with Erica on Tuesday (Oct. 24). From her childhood and modeling career to her firstborn and the early days of her relationship with <strong>Safaree Samuels</strong>, Erica put many of her personal experiences out on the table.</p>
<p>About an hour into the sit-down, Erica brought up some of the terms of her initial <em>LHHATL </em>appearances.</p>
<p>Notably, she said <strong>Mona Scott-Young </strong>offered her a contract right after her <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9ddSe9nSck" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fight with <strong>Kimbella</strong></a>, though she revealed she was being paid per diem. For context, this equates to a daily allowance for bare essentials as opposed to a full-on salary.</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;I wasn&#8217;t even getting paid per episode. I was getting per diem and, like, expenses paid.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
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<p>Not stopping there, Erica Mena suggested that the higher-ups took advantage of her being &#8220;hungry and devoted.&#8221;</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;I was the guinea pig. Oh man, they saw me coming&#8230; [They] just knew I was hungry and devoted enough to be present without even having to talk about logistics or paperwork.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>She added, <strong><em>&#8220;I can talk about it now because, what, you guys fired me? Allegedly?&#8221;</em></strong></p>
<p>Before moving on, Mena declared, <strong><em>&#8220;They played me like an extra and was using me like a main character.&#8221;</em></strong></p>
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<h3 style="text-align: center">Erica Mena Takes Aim At DJ Envy</h3>
<p>Later on in the sit-down, Carlos brought up Erica&#8217;s &#8220;first scandal,&#8221; which was sparked when &#8220;people said [she was] a mistress in DJ Envy&#8217;s marriage.&#8221;</p>
<p>In turn, Erica said that she was &#8220;totally oblivious&#8221; about the fact that DJ Envy was married before revealing that she found out through his wife — <strong>Gia Casey</strong> — calling her.</p>
<p>After Erica Mena recounted how panicked Envy allegedly was by the news, she mentioned him blasting her on the radio.</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;[He said] something to the effect of how he cheated with someone that was beneath him. &#8230; Why run me through the mud when you knew I didn&#8217;t know?&#8221;</p></blockquote>
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<p>Regarding how DJ Envy trashed her &#8220;just to save face,&#8221; Erica Mena proclaimed, <strong><em>&#8220;You could [have] at least given me a decent heads-up if you were gonna go that low.&#8221;</em></strong></p>
<p>She added,<strong><em> &#8220;Every word he used to kinda bring me down was his building block in desperation to try to fix his broken home.&#8221;</em></strong></p>
<p>Continuing, Erica accused Mona Scott-Young of preventing her from sharing her truth on the show. After all, she &#8220;needed that <em>Breakfast Club </em>plug.&#8221;</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;Mona needed that <em>Breakfast Club</em> plug, so she wasn&#8217;t gonna allow me to tell my story in the sense of what was going on in real-time on <em>Love &; Hip Hop</em>. I&#8217;ve never been given that opportunity. They needed that <em>Breakfast Club</em> relationship so they could promote. &#8230; Politics is everything.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>As a result, Mena said she deserves to be able to share her piece at this point.</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;I do feel like I am owed to clarify on my behalf this narrative that he was able to paint because he had the outlet he had.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>Check out the full interview down below.</p>
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