Tammy Rivera and rapper Waka Flocka Flame aren’t together anymore, but the reality star is finally opening up about their relationship and where things went wrong.
In part one of Yung Joc and Jessie Woo’s new podcast “Roots Before Reality: Harsh Reality,” the duo welcomed Rivera and “Flavor of Love” season two winner, London “Deelishis” Charles, as their first guests.
During the 9:30 mark, Rivera was asked about her relationship with Waka and why they parted ways in 2022 after eight years of marriage. The former couple wed in 2014 and held a destination wedding with family and friends in Mexico in 2019.
“He didn’t cheat this time,” said the 36-year-old. “I think after COVID, you know, we always, we had time to self-reflect, you get what I’m saying.”
She continued, “And I had went through so much in my relationship, good and bad. And I always say sometimes you go through too much to go forward and you go through too much to go backwards.”
During their relationship, there was a time when the couple temporarily broke up due to the “No Hands” rapper cheating on Rivera. Though they found their way back to each other, the “Love and Hip Hop: Atlanta” alum confessed that the “built-up resentment” she had against him caused her to treat him differently.
“I didn’t like,” she shared with the trio, “because of my past…our relationship, the way that I was starting to treat him. The way I was starting to talk to him as a man. The way I wasn’t respecting …”
Rivera admitted she had “built up resentment” at the time, and now as a woman who is sure of herself as a woman she is prepared to be candid about what went wrong in the relationship.
“If I have to take some accountability, it was like ‘OK, I can I love you too much to disrespect you. I love you too much for us to go, because the more we go down this route. We’re gonna end up resenting each other,” she continued.
As the interview progressed, the mom of one recalled some of her and Waka’s early moments, noting that their relationship was “toxic.”
“I think the more toxic we were it was like the more in love we were. It was fun,” she explained. “Yeah, because my mouth was so crazy because I was from Baltimore. He was a rapper that thought he could say whatever.”
Recounting one of their most heated arguments, Rivera stated that it stemmed from Waka making a critical comment about her orange shoes.
“He said ‘Why you got on orange shoes with that outfit?’ and I’m like, ‘What you mean? I look fly,’” said the reality star.
While it was a minuscule disagreement, Rivera said things became so heated that Waka put her out of the car and called his mother, Debra “Deb” Anthey.
“He had to call his mom,” she confessed. “No, he’s like, ‘Yo, Mom, come and get her. I ain’t never had a female talk to me like this in my life.’”
To Waka’s surprise, his mother — who is known for being a firecracker herself — broke out in laughter after hearing her son complain. “Because she can identity because her mouth is crazy.”
Waka previously took accountability for his faults in their divorce during an appearance on the “Club Shay Shay” podcast in January.
“It was me. I was just young and dumb,” he told host Shannon Sharpe. “Whatever she say how she feels but as a man, its always going to be me.”
He admitted he struggled to balance multiple roles along with his music career, his business endeavors, his family duties, and protecting the space he created.
“It was a lot to handle,” he stated, “And I got tired of seeing my wife just live with this umbrella over her. I’m like, ‘Yo, be free, my n—a. I love you. Like, whatever you go through in life, I’m still gon’ help. I’m there.’ … That’s my dog. One of my best friends.”
Though Rivera and her ex-hubby are no longer married, they have been able to maintain enough of a relationship to still film their We TV series “Waka & Tammy: What The Flocka.” The series aired its third season last year.
The show follows their everyday life as they learn to navigate as co-parents of Rivera’s 17-year-old daughter, Charlie Rivera.
