Songstress Tamar Braxton is sharing new details about what went down during a taping of “Braxton Family Values” where the singer claims she was blindsided by sexual abuse revelations a family member shared with life and spiritual coach Iyanla Vanzant.
In an exclusive interview with Houston’s 97.9 “The Box”, Braxton said she had no idea her childhood sexual abuse would be a topic of discussion, adding that she’d never shared the shocking secret with anyone in her family.
Tamar Braxton says she never told anyone about the sexual abuse she experienced as a child and felt” blindsided when it was brought up at a meeting with Iyanla Vanzant. (YouTube / video screenshot)
“It was never discussed,” she told radio host Mad Hatta. “I didn’t know that anyone knew.”
While the abuse discussion with Vanzant never aired, Braxton said the damage was done. “I feel like the responsibility was on you [Vanzant] to handle that. To not mention it or not allow it to be said or have a conversation with me first, how about that,” Braxton said. “I’m mad at everybody.”
Braxton said the abuse happened when she was 6 or 7 years old, after which Mad Hatta pointed out that someone in the family clearly was aware of what’d happened and discussed the incident with Vanzant without Tamar’s knowledge.
“And guess what I found out,” Braxtom chimed in. “It’s one in three (people who suffer sexual abuse). That’s crazy. And so it’s definitely a situation that needs to be addressed and needs to be talked about.”
It was last month on “The Wendy Williams Show” that Braxton revealed she was molested by members on both sides of her family. The incident came up during an explosive meeting with Braxton’s sisters, Toni, Traci, Towanda, Trina and matriarch, Evelyn, who reached out to Vanzant to help the family resolve its issues.
At one point, Tamar stormed out of the session after exchanging words with Vanzant, who she accused of “name calling.” She later took to Twitter and fired off a series of incendiary tweets about the famous life coach, dubbing her “the devil” and a “fraud.”
Braxton later deleted the comments, but the damage was already done. Vanzant has since been rumored to be considering a defamation lawsuit against “Braxton Family Values” network, WeTv, and its production company.
Watch more in the clip below.
