“Love and Hip Hop: Atlanta” alum Tommie Lee finally explained her side behind the recent child abuse case pending against her.
In October 2018, fans were shocked to see the mother of two hauled off to jail for allegedly assaulting her middle school-aged child. After a whirlwind of speculation about what caused the reality star to flip out like that, it seems an answer has arrived.
In January, Lee was indicted on seven charges including child cruelty, aggravated assault, battery, aggravated stalking and disrupting a public school. She allegedly went to her eldest daughter’s school, smacked the child’s hands with her purse strap, slapped her in the face, dragged her by the hair and slammed her head into a locker. Why?
Tommie Lee attends Pierre ‘Pee’ Thomas birthday celebration at Gold Room QC Grand Casino on June 6, 2017, in Atlanta. (Photo: Prince Williams/WireImage)
The 34-year-old explained in her new “Truth” documentary on YouTube — which shows her highs and lows of 2018, that her daughter was acting out in her new school, disrespecting her teacher.
“Do I believe in child abuse? No, no way,” Lee said. “I’m against that. I don’t like when people hurt children. That break me down, hurt me to my soul. When I caught the child abuse charge, I was like man. That broke me down. That really hurt me. I made it my business like my kids are never going to go to jail. Whatever I’ve done in the past, I did that so they don’t have to do it. I don’t want see my kids go through what I went through in life. I will lay down and die so they don’t have to go through that.”
She continued, “One mistake could cost you your whole life. And I was just so scared. So I made it a point to explain to her, ‘Havalli [Lee’s youngest daughter]. You can’t get in any trouble. Havalli is going through whatever in a new school. She’s trying to be cool or whatever. She’s being goofy. She’s acting out in class. The teacher called me twice and she’s starting to fail, academically. She’s never failed. My child’s been on the honor roll her whole life. So it’s just like ‘What is going on?’”
Lee said sometimes it’s hard to have one-on-one conversations with her children because she’s always on the road working and when she does have the opportunity it’s only for a few days before because she has to travel again. She said she doesn’t really have the “luxury” of being a full-time mom, and with her being a single parent she has to work to provide for her children.
On the day Lee was initially arrested for allegedly abusing her daughter, she said she’d just receive a third phone call from the child’s teacher, saying she was being “disrespectful.”
“I get another call. This is the third call. The teacher’s like, ‘Havalli is really disrespecting me in front of the class. She’s being a class clown. she’s interrupting the class.’ And I’m like ‘Whoa, whoa, wait. She disrespected you?’ I felt really, really bad for her,” the reality star explained. “I’m like why is Havalli now doing this and she know what we up against? The whole situation is just scary. I just don’t want to see my child in juvenile, in jail. I don’t want to see her end up with the same fate as mine.”
Lee mentioned that she feels the public is extremely quick to judge despite not knowing the real “truth” behind certain situations. As she maintains her innocence of her current charges in the video, she wound up back in jail for recently showing up to court intoxicated for the case, which she apologized for via social media messages late last week.
Fans have continued to shower her with support.
“Tommie is definitely a Survivor !! She been through a lot just like all of us ! So who am I to judge her ! I will pray for her !! To success 💯💯.”
“I want this black woman 👩🏾 to win so bad! Y’all need to support her!”
“I am wishing you the ABSOLUTE best. Thank you for sharing your story. Keep on moving…you are already on your way 🙏🏽.”
