has opened up about how he felt like an ‘outcast’ from a young age, acknowledging that people may question ‘how hard it could be’ for him as a ‘rich rock star’.
Having become known as a rap artist at the start of his career, Machine Gun Kelly – real name Colson Baker – has transitioned into the punk rock genre as of late.
Having made headlines this week over about Black women in a , in a new interview, Baker has recalled the struggles he faced in his childhood.
The 31-year-old – who’s engaged to actor Megan Fox – also starred in an eclectic photoshoot to accompany the interview, wearing a fuchsia suit while sitting on a bubblegum pink bed in one picture, while another image showed him donning an ice blue ensemble while strumming on the guitar.
During the discussion, Baker said that he felt like an outcast among other children at his school and also at home.
‘I felt from the beginning, even in my household, like the kid who was just outcasted from birth,’ he told .
‘I was always too tall for the kids at my school, or I didn’t have enough money to buy the outfits the other kids had – it was just always something.’
However, he added: ‘But the world isn’t looking at me like that. They’re like, “F**k you, dude, you’re a rich rock star. How hard could it be?”’
At another point in the interview, Baker revealed reconciling with his father, who kicked him out after high school, when his dad complimented him on his music in 2020 a few months before his death.
‘In that moment, when he acknowledged my music and we bonded over a song, it gave me the richest memory I’ll ever have,’ he said.
‘To me, that was the ultimate success. And everything else that preceded that in our relationship didn’t matter because we had finally made it.’
Baker was born in Houston, US to missionary parents, moving around the world with his family before they settled in Denver.
In the cover picture from his Billboard photoshoot, Baker wore a midnight blue satin top while posing in a praying position, a pearl encrusted crown placed on top of his head.
Another image also saw him light up a cigarette on a candelabra while sat at a bright pink piano, glistening in a silver sparkly suit.
Earlier this week, Baker was after an old clip from 2012 circulated on social media in which he said: ‘My child’s Black. Black girls give the best head.’
He is father to 12-year-old daughter Casie who he shares with ex-partner Emma Cannon.
