The issue of Fay-Ann Lyons Alvarez's ongoing disconnection with her mother, Lady Gypsy, has elicited many opinions. Lyons-Alvarez says there is a lot about her life that many have never questioned and may never know. She gave the T&T Guardian a peek into her life outside of the Carnival season, to show just how "healthy" the Lyons-Alvarez's family situation is, something she says she treasures and works hard at maintaining. Lyons-Alvarez says her relationship with her father is much better than it was in the past. "Now, my relationship with my dad is where a relationship with a father and a daughter should be. "He comes to the house, he calls, we talk and he plays with his granddaughter when he comes by. "Now it's way better than it was in the past," said the young artiste, who is sometimes referred to as soca royalty because of her lineage and her personal achievements.
Lyons-Alvarez, 31, is a three-time Road March champ. She captured both the Groovy and Power Soca Monarch titles in 2009, just a few weeks before giving birth to her daughter, Syri. However, the titles aren't as important to her as her personal strength. "It's a string of eventful things in my life. One of the things I faced as it relates to my father is the fact that I had never really gotten to know him as a child because of his work. "Not that his work was a hindrance, but more so the management of his work," she said. She pointed out that even today, she is not the only child of the iconic SuperBlue who has been affected by his inability to manage his work. "If you go onto my brother's Facebook page, you'll see, 'Superblue's bastard son," she highlights, explaining that she understands that's how her brother feels. "Not everybody is able to deal with their feelings in a controlled way," she said. Lyons-Alvarez says she has chosen a husband who she knows is nothing like the men she interacted with as a child. Noting that she is the only child from her parents' relationship, Lyons-Alvarez says each of her siblings has a different father.
"On my father's side I have four siblings and on my mother's side, I have five siblings. None of us have the same father," she reiterated. The mother of one admitted that it was never a situation that felt good but she comforted her soul with the words, "it is what it is." She said Austin "SuperBlue" Lyons, her biological father, is seen as merely daddy even today and not so much father. She explained that while he is certainly more to her now than he was then, she still doesn't see him as that father figure that little girls often yearn for. "God is father... that's about the size of it. I don't think I have anyone in my life that I can say has been like a father to me," said the Point Fortin native. When asked who had been her rock over the years, Lyons-Alvarez broke into a chuckle. She said she never did have a father figure. She said in choosing Antonio "Bunji Garlin" Alvarez as her life partner, she simply looked into him and found everything that the men who were a part of her life during her childhood, were not. "I had to make sure that I found a man who was not only capable of being a husband but also a good father to my child," she emphasised, noting that balance was important to her and still is. Lyons-Alvarez described herself as a person who took her bad situations and used them to her advantage. She said when a bad situation presented itself, she saw it as God's way of showing her what not to do. The soca star says she doesn't foresee an amicable relationship with her mother anytime soon. She admits that her mother has reached out to her in the past, during her pregnancy, but she is adamant that her personal battle with Lady Gypsy stems from her youth.
She explained that as a young woman her mother constantly spoke negatively of her father, something she said SuperBlue never did. "What people don't understand is the effect that has on a child. When you tell your child for the man that you were with, how horrible that man is, you're not doing yourself any good, nor the child, nor the man. You're actually creating an unhealthy environment," she said. She said she simply cannot have her mother in her life while trying to maintain a relationship with her father, due to her mother's inability to deal with her without speaking negatively of her father. "Ask her 'what did you do to help Fay-Ann Lyons' career. What did you do? What did you say?'. My dad gave me advice on how to write and today I write for myself, which is one of the biggest tools. "Because I can write for myself, I can feed myself and take care of my family," she said. She takes pride in her strength and her family and calls on young women to hold their heads up, despite challenges. To Lyons-Alvarez, life is much more than the glitz and glamour. It's family, love and building strong relationships.
