Rajee Narinesingh (born April 7, 1967) is an American actress, LGBT activist, author, singer, and reality television personality, most widely known for her appearances on the

E! Entertainment E! (an initialism for Entertainment Television) is an American basic cable channel which primarily focuses on pop culture, celebrity focused reality shows, and movies, owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of NBCUnive ...

docu-series Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries. Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film. *Television documentary series, sometimes called d ...

, '' Botched'', which documented her struggles to remove cement from her face, breasts and hips after previous mismanaged fillers by a fake doctor. Most of the concrete-like substance was removed from her face after her second appearance on the show.

Early life and education

Narinesingh was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, to Boyie "Roop" Narinesingh (died December 2004) and Sandra Narinesingh and was raised in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. Narinesingh has one younger sister. She is of

Trinidadian Trinidadians and Tobagonians, colloquially known as Trinis or Trinbagonians, are the people who are identified with the country of Trinidad and Tobago. The country is home to people of many different national, ethnic and religious origins. As a ...

Dougla Dougla people (plural ''Douglas'') are Caribbean people who are of mixed African and Indian descent. The word ''Dougla'' (also Dugla or Dogla) is used throughout the Dutch and English-speaking Caribbean. Definition The word ''Dougla'' origin ...

origin. Her father was

Indo-Trinidadian Indo-Trinidadians and Tobagonians or Indian-Trinidadians and Tobagonians, are people of Indian origin who are nationals of Trinidad and Tobago whose ancestors came from India and the wider subcontinent beginning in 1845. Indo-Trinidadians and ...

and her mother has French,

Afro-Trinidadian Afro-Trinidadians and Tobagonians (or just Afro-Trinbagonians) are people from Trinidad and Tobago who are of West African descent. Social interpretations of race in Trinidad and Tobago are often used to dictate who is of West African descent ...

, and Polynesian roots. Narinesingh graduated from

Franklin Learning Center Franklin Learning Center, formerly known as William Penn High School for Girls, is a historic high school located in the Spring Garden neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is part of the School District of Philadelphia. The building wa ...

, a performing arts high school in Philadelphia, later graduating from

Edinboro University of Pennsylvania PennWest Edinboro is a campus of Pennsylvania Western University, a multi-campus public university in Pennsylvania. Located in the town of Edinboro, the campus has more than 4,600 enrolled students. History Edinboro University was founded ...

. She worked at a Korean-owned jewelry store for close to ten years before relocating to

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

to work for

The American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...

Personal life and rise to fame

Narinesingh came out as a

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

woman in the late 1990s, and began transitioning. In 2005, as an effort to feminize her appearance, she went to Oneal Ron Morris seeking filler injections in her face, breasts and hips. Morris, also known as “The Duchess”, is also a transgender woman, and was known in the local Miami trans community for providing cheap alternatives to expensive, professional plastic surgery. Although Narinesingh, at the time, believed her to have some medical training, Morris was not a licensed doctor. The fillers, which Narinesingh believed to be silicone, turned out to be a mixture of

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...

, tire sealant, mineral oil and glue. Narinesingh was unaware of this for several months following the injections, until her body began to react negatively to the substances and her skin began to swell. The fillers hardened under Narinesingh's skin, causing nodules to form where the chemicals were injected. Too embarrassed to seek help, she spent the next few years hardly leaving her home. Finally, at the urging of a friend, she went to see plastic surgeon Dr. John J. Martin. Martin agreed to treat her for free, and began conducting

ultrasound Ultrasound is sound waves with frequency, frequencies higher than the upper audible limit of human hearing range, hearing. Ultrasound is not different from "normal" (audible) sound in its physical properties, except that humans cannot hea ...

treatment and started Narinesingh on a course of anti-inflammatory medication, which lasted several years. In 2015 Narinesingh was finally ready to have most of the concrete removed from her face, and underwent four surgeries over seven weeks, a process which was documented in season 3 of the ''E!''

reality show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

''Botched''. She has also appeared on numerous

talk show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show ...

s such as

Anderson Cooper 360 Anderson or Andersson may refer to: Companies * Anderson (Carriage), a company that manufactured automobiles from 1907 to 1910 * Anderson Electric, an early 20th-century electric car * Anderson Greenwood, an industrial manufacturer * Anderson R ...

, Dr. Phil, and The Doctors. Narinesingh also has a career as an actress and musician, appearing in several movies, such as the 2010 film ''Bella Maddo'', directed by Janice Danielle, and has released several

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

, including her 2016 release "Shake My Cement Tits".

Filmography

Film

Television

Singles

* ''"Stumble"'' (1997) * ''"Stumble"'' (re-release) (2013) * ''"Shake My Cement Tits"'' (2016) * ''"Rajee's Working it Out"'' (2016)

Bibliography

* ''Windows to My Soul'' * ''The Hand I Was Dealt'' (2003) * ''Writings of a Demi God'' (2007) * ''Beyond Face Value A Journey to True Beauty'' (2012)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Narinesingh, Rajee 21st-century American actresses Actresses from New York (state) LGBT African Americans American LGBT actors People from Brooklyn LGBT people from New York (state) American LGBT rights activists 1967 births Living people Transgender actresses Transgender rights activists Transgender women Participants in American reality television series American non-fiction writers Transgender writers 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American people American LGBT writers