Halsey has not had an easy life.
After dropping out of school and being kicked out by her parents in New York City, she was forced to come up with some desperate plans to make money and survive--one of which was sex work.
"When I was living in New York, I was a teenager," Halsey, 24, said at Ending Youth Homelessness: A Benefit for My Friend's Place in Los Angeles Saturday night., according to E! News.
"My friends were picking out decorations for their dorms, and I was debating on whether or not I should let a stranger inside of me so I could pay for my next meal."
"A series of unfortunate circumstances lead me to be in that position, and it can happen to absolutely anyone," she continued.
"It wasn't because I did something bad. It wasn't because something was wrong with me, and it wasn't because my parents didn't love me—because they did very much."
Halsey, having been through the pain of homelessness, has been an outspoken advocate and protector for homeless people, especially on social media.
Her first album, Badlands, was a breakthrough in 2015.
When talking about why her parents kicked her out, she said, "They just didn't agree with a lot of things about me."
"I remember one time I had $9 in my bank account, and bought a four-pack of Red Bull and used it to stay up overnight over the course of two or three days, because it was less dangerous to not sleep than it was to sleep somewhere random and maybe get raped or kidnapped."
"While it's very exciting that I am a record-selling, show-playing pop star, when I tell people that story, they go, 'Oh my gosh, you went from being homeless to being a pop star? That's amazing.'"
"We should help these people because we don't know what they could become."
"My Friend's Place," the organization for which Halsey was speaking, is located in northeast Hollywood, California. For more information on how to get involved with them, click here.
