Mario interviews with Essence

This 21-year old R&B crooner hit the scene years back with braids and ballads such as 'Let me love you' and has continued to foster growth in the music industry with a coming of age soulful touch in hits like 'Crying out for me' and 'Music for Love'. With citings on 'Dancing with the stars' and 'The Tyra Banks Show', Mario continues to show his fans that he is marturing into a responsible debonair young man. As stardum seems picture perfect in the eyes of his fans, Mario has faced bigger and burdening issues in his personal life. Camera's document every step of his struggle to help his mother, Shawnita Hardaway, overcome her 20-year addiction to heroin, caputuring the scene for his reality show 'I won't love you to death: Mario and his mom' . Being the loving son he is, Mario stood by his mom through rehab and she has since remained clean for almost a year. Now, Mario openly discusses the experience with Essence.

"I was launching my foundation, and I felt the documentary gave kids and young adults with the same issues [as me] inspiration. I feel like it has helped me to grow a lot, with the things that I have experienced and gone through with my mother. I also felt like it showed who I really was as a young man outside of the music, because sometimes you can get lost in that box of being just a teen star—I’m more than that."

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