Nelly Felt Powerless Over Family Deaths

Rapper NELLY has opened up about the cancer deaths of his sister and grandfather, revealing he felt powerless because he was unable to help them beat the disease.

The hip-hop star was left devastated in 2005 when his sister Jackie Donohue lost her battle with leukaemia and his grandfather died six months later from cancer.

Nelly has previously admitted he almost quit the music industry because he couldn’t cope with the grief, and now he has opened up about the heartache further, admitting he felt useless because he was so used to being able to use his vast fortune to overcome any personal struggles.

He tells MTV News, “I lost my sister in ‘05 and almost didn’t make it back… I lost my sister and six months later I lost my grandfather. Both of them the same way - different diagnosis but both of them was due to cancer.

“We had done so much to try to find a donor for my sister. I don’t know if you ever had someone ailing from cancer in your family, but it’s some of the most disheartening things to watch people go through so much pain and not be able to do anything about it.

“To have so much, so much money, so much things that you can basically buy your way out of it, but this thing here you can’t get a grasp on it for nothing in the world.”