Tamar Braxton opened up about her suicide attempt and domestic violence allegations in an exclusive interview on the Tamron Hall Show.
On Wednesday, the WE TV reality star sat down for an in-studio interview with Hall, to discuss being found unresponsive in a Los Angeles hotel room in July. Braxton said in the interview she thought about taking her life before, but she described the July incident as her first attempt, she acknowledged, “it’s been a lot of dark, hard times.”
“I’m just going to be 100%. There has been a time where I wanted to, but this was the first time where I’ve actually acted on it,” she said, adding that she is in counseling every day.
Braxton publicly spoke out about the toxic workplace environment at WE TV, which was also attributed to her suicide attempt. She also felt “betrayed” when a family member she did not mention by name allegedly shared her untold secret of sexual abuse from 6 to 16 to the show’s producers. The story was disclosed in a 2018 episode of “Braxton Family Values” and a counseling session with life coach and spiritual advisor Iyanla Vanzant.
“My family did an episode with Iyanla and I was excited about it. But that excitement came to an end when she decided to tell everyone (during the taping) that I was domestically, sexually abused from the ages of 6 to 16. And I’ve never told anyone that,” Braxton said, also confirming that “it’s not an allegation, it’s a fact.”
Braxton said the pressure of being on TV and a reality star was bad for her family relationships and mental health.
“It was about feeling like I could never be myself and being misunderstood and having the stigma of the angry Black woman all the time. And that’s not who I am. That’s not what I wanted to portray. … It wasn’t just about being an angry Black woman, it was about real issues coming up on the show.”
When asked about her relationship with her family, the Love & War singer said she’s trying to repair her relationships with her family.
“I don’t think at the time I knew exactly what I was doing. I think that for the show and for my family, we wanted to have a great show and sometimes that is making the deal with the devil and that is doing things that you wouldn’t normally do.”
The singer spoke about wanting to create a show “to be an example of the Black community with five Black amazing sisters, with all different walks of life, who can inspire and help.”
“I love my family. And I don’t want to fight with my family. And I don’t want to be an example of a family who fights and argues and always have turmoil,” she said. “We wasn’t teaching anything but being devilish and I didn’t want to do that.”
Hall also asked Braxton about the domestic allegations made by her former fiancé, David Adefeso. An incident that happened while he was driving with her in the car this past summer, which she denied. He also alleged a physical altercation between the two that led him to contact the police and file a restraining order.
“I am a survivor of a domestic violence relationship. And not at any point was (sic) David and I in an abusive relationship,” Braxton said.
“He was my best friend. He was an amazing, amazing partner,” she said. “And it’s just so hard because through everything else, I never expected this from him. Now, I have to be real with myself. Is he acting like this because he found me the way that he found me? Probably. I don’t know.”
Mental health is real. We wish Tamar Braxton love and light on her journey to healing.
Photo Credit: Tamron Hall Show
