Missy Elliot was born Melissa Arnette Elliott on July 1, 1971 to Patricia and Ronnie Elliott. An only child her father was a Marine and her mother was a power company coordinator. From the age of four she wanted to be a performer and she honed her skills being the class clown from that age. Elliot mainly used school as a venue for making friendships but early I.Q tests classified her with an above average intelligence. She was placed two years in advance of her peers due to her being so smart but purposely failed so she could rejoin the children her own age.
She was raped by her cousin at the age of eight nearly everyday for a year and claims that the trauma remains with her still to this day. Home life was not happy for Missy living with her parents in a vermin infested shack in Virginia after moving from a mobile home in Jacksonville, North Carolina when her dad left the Marines. Ronnie Elliott was an abusive father who would beat his wife daily and beat Missy once. They left him when Missy was fourteen and even though she speaks with him this day she hasn’t forgiven him. When they left Missy realized how much strength her and her mother possessed and defined the person she is today.
