Student author learns about love and faith the hard way after being thrown in jail 

Four years ago, MSU senior Hermion Chiddick, 32, was locked in a jail in Orlando, Fla. She still remembers the foul smell of her cell, the coldness of the concrete floors and the hardness of her bed. Crack addicts, jailbirds and murders surrounded her.

She spent two and half months behind bars where her goal was to figure out how she got there.

In her autobiography I Did It for Love, Chiddick calls that time period her spiritual turning point.

Chiddick’s book was released last semester and chronicles her upbringing in the Caribbean to being homeless to dating men for money.

Born and raised in Grenada, Chiddick is the last of 10 children and the only to attend secondary school. When Chiddick was a little girl, her mom became a prostitute in order to put food on the table.

Chiddick describes herself as someone who has overcome a lot of obstacles in life and trying to elevate herself from poverty.

Her dad abandoned her family when she was 9 years old, leaving her family in a one-bedroom house with no electricity.

“I remember throughout my entire high school life being ashamed of where I lived,” Chiddick says. “I slept on a chair for my entire six years in high school. I don’t even remember owning a toothbrush. I brushed my teeth with peas leaf. We were poor and it affected some of the choices I made.”

In I Did It for Love, Chiddick writes how she had no sense of direction growing up and that her mom never showed any form of affection toward her.

Chiddick left her small Caribbean island for America in 2000. But as an adult, she carried around the baggage of her tough upbringing. She refused to go back to her poverty-stricken life. Chiddick says the reason she dated guys for money directly related to her childhood.

“(I left) because I was just tired and I wanted a better life,” Chiddick says. “I decided to venture out. I then lived in Florida for ten years.”

Chiddick writes in her memoir that while in Florida she was homeless, sleeping in her car with nothing to eat. There are points in the memoir where Chiddick describes waking up in her car with nowhere to go and having to juggle college as well. I Did It for Love also depicts many of Chiddick’s trials and tribulations, including getting an abortion when she was 26 years old.

In Florida, Chiddick says she hung out with the wrong crowd. She dated and slept with a lot of men for money. At that time, Chiddick says she found it difficult to get a grip on reality. In a chapter called, “Living in Denial,” she writes, ‘I was living in sin. I was living in a fantasy world. I was living in denial.’

In 2007, Chiddick landed in jail because of a relationship with a married man.

“It was an obsession,” Chiddick says. “He obsessed over me. I obsessed over him. We had a dispute and I went to his place of business. I attempted to throw something at him and I got arrested. I’m happy it happened. I know that might sound crazy, but it was that moment behind bars that I was able to connect with who I really was. I made the decision that this wasn’t the life for me.”

Chiddick says that was the lowest point of her life because she did not have anyone visit her while she was incarcerated.

“I had a lot of friends,” Chiddick says. “I was very popular once. I had men giving me money. I had a nice car, nice clothes and I was traveling. During that moment I had a lot of friends, but the minute I hit rock bottom and I got arrested everyone disappeared. Just being there and not having any visitors was a low point for me.”

In I Did It for Love, Chiddick writes how jail made her very empathetic toward others.

She was in jail for two and a half months. Going to jail was a blessing and a curse for Chiddick. Jail is where she found herself.

“I just felt a sense of peace in my heart and I knew at that point I can do anything,” Chiddick says.
After being released from jail, Chiddick says she turned her life completely around and started developing a relationship with God. She writes in her book how her faith rescued her from a life characterized by sin and shame.

She came to Texas and Midwestern in 2010. Chiddick is now majoring in sociology in hopes of being a clinical or counseling psychologist.

After all of her hardships, Chiddick knew she wanted to write a book, but the struggle of getting that book published was just another obstacle.

“A voice in me said to write about my life and help women, help people so I wrote down things I had been through,” Chiddick says.

It took her two weeks to write the book and Chiddick says everything flowed very naturally.

“It was a hard decision to put myself out there, but I am a very spiritual person and I think I was led by the Holy Spirit to write this book,” Chiddick says. “It was a hard book to write, especially having to expose imitate details of my life. Talking about men I’ve slept with, how God has really intervene and being in jail, those are certain things people don’t want to disclose.”

Chiddick first tried to get her book published through CrossBook publishing but they rejected her proposal.

“They rejected me because they said my content was too much for them and in my opinion they couldn’t deal with me being a Christian and lived that kind of life,” Chiddick says. “So they thought it was too colorful for them. I didn’t give up with that rejection so I tried another publishing company.”

West Bow Press accepted her book and published it in 2011.

“When I found out I was getting published it was happiest moment for me,” Chiddick says. “It was a good moment.”

Chiddick makes it clear that the purpose of her novel is to not capitalize on her wrongdoing but instead to emphasize that there is hope for the future. Each short chapter of I Did It for Love has one central theme of Chiddick’s newfound appreciation for her faith and how her life was transformed because of it.

“I had this determination that I need to succeed,” Chiddick says. “It’s a book to empower not only women, but men. This is a very courageous book. It will bring tears to a lot of people’s eyes. It’s sad, but it also shows strength.”

Chiddick dedicates her biography to all the broken women all over the world.

“Most people who have gone through what I have, they don’t disclose it to people,” Chiddick says. “I think a lot of people express themselves through writing. Me being a writer can help me and other people by identifying with my story, especially if their problem has been similar to mine.”

Presently, Chiddick is saving herself for marriage and believes her faith has given her the strength to live again. She says she doesn’t want to sabotage that by having sex outside of marriage again.

“I’ve learned that you don’t go after love,” Chiddick says. “Love comes after you. You don’t sell yourself short. Money cannot buy happiness and if someone truly loves and respects you, you won’t have to compromise your dignity. You have to accept yourself for someone else to love you.”

She is planning a book tour around the country as well as her home country of Grenada. I Did It for Love is being sold locally at Mardel and online wherever books are sold.