‘Gangsta Grandma’ Uses Lived Experience To Rehabilitate Lovingly

“People go through many hiccups in life, but the key is not to stop at that hiccup,” said Evelyn Wilson, 80, who will have been abstinent from alcohol and cocaine use for 50 years in May. “My philosophy is the better you feel about yourself the better you’ll treat yourself.” (Courtesy of Evelyn Wilson)

As “Gangsta Grandma,” Evelyn Wilson nurtures troubled men and women in a way that not many are capable of doing. 

A Harlem, New York, native, Wilson says she became addicted to alcohol and cocaine following the deaths of both her parents before her 13th birthday.