Before the years of success, Flex had a tough upbringing. According to People, his Mother was working three jobs; his brother, Dwayne, was addicted to crack; and his Pops wasn’t around. So Flex split at the age of 15 and started fending for himself, sleeping on subways. Flex’s circumstances led him another surprising job prior to dancing and acting. It also almost led to his untimely death. He actually became a dope dealer before his rise to stardom.

Flex On Almost Getting Murdered During Drug Dealing Days

During his days as a drug dealer, Flex revealed that his close friend was murdered and shortly after that, he was almost taken out too during his teen years:

“I wanted to be on my own,” Flex said. “But I know I put my life in jeopardy and I hurt the people I sold drugs to. He put a gun to my head and began pulling the trigger: click, click, click. It wouldn’t fire,” he said. “I knew then that I really ought to get out of this business.” -via People Mag

Luckily, now Flex only works on the legitimate side of business. He and Shanice are actually working to revitalize their careers and have been successful with their reality show, Flex & Shanice, on the OWN network. Flex also revealed that after he and Shanice fell on some tough times financially a while back, they are now in a much better space and are handling things differently this time around:

“Being smart and living below our means. Not trying to be the most. Not like we did. Not incurring high monthly debt, just dealing with the essentials—what we need, as opposed to what we like. You know, just trying to be smart. We’re not all the way where we want to be, but we’re not where we used to be either. We’re just learning and being more “hands on” with all of our stuff now.” -Flex Alexander, via Soul Train

Well said Flex.