Most of us can’t imagine a world that doesn’t include Tamar Braxton and all of the "dot-com" deliciousness she brings to us.
And fortunately, we don’t have to. The sassy, fast-talking baby sister of the Braxton Family clan is about to give us more, unedited reality TV life. She and husband —uber successful music executive Vincent Herbert —are starring in their own reality TV spinoff (Tamar & Vince) that premieres on September 20th on We TV.
In the new series, we get more inside of the twosome’s relationship, see Braxton finally work on her album and get to learn the intimate details of their struggles to start a family.
EBONY.com talks with the truth-telling Tamar who reveals that she’s not the only diva in her household.
EBONY: Was this an easy 'yes' to do the spin-off?
Tamar Braxton: It actually wasn’t an easy yes. It wasn’t. The Braxton Family Values really means a lot to me, and I didn’t want to do [a new show] without my sisters. My husband actually talked me into it because he felt that it was necessary for people to see the other side of me. People only see me being the loudmouth, bratty younger sister and he was like, ‘there’s so much more to you than that,’ and I feel people definitely need to see that.
EBONY: Why do you think that people have connected with Tamar Braxton the way that we have?
TB: I believe it’s the honesty. I’ve always been a person who’s been true to myself and true to others and I’m not afraid to be honest. I believe that at least once in your life you’ve met somebody like me.
EBONY: What will we see in the spinoff that we haven’t already seen in the Braxton Family Values?
TB: You’re gonna see me … in my music career and then you’ll see me taking a backseat from a diva. Vincent is a divo, diva extraordinaire! Everybody thinks that I run this house. I definitely don’t. He definitely does and he is a divo! I can’t wait for people to see that, because they think he’s so quiet and laid back. He’s so not that way!
EBONY: Now why has he been waiting to unleash that full side of himself, then?
TB: I don’t think he realized that it would be him exposing himself more. I don’t think he really thought that through! So I think he’s gonna be like, ‘Am I really like that?’ And I’m like, ‘Uh, yes dear. You are.’
EBONY: You guys have been very generous in actually letting us see your journey to try to have children. Is that something that’s going to continue in this new series?
TB: Yes. That’s something that is a very serious chapter in my life. I needed to make sure that our show is 100 percent real, so that’s something that we’re going through. It is personal, but it was a very conscious decision. We wanted to bring awareness to things that people were afraid to talk about., I just thought that it was very important for women to understand that when you hit 30 and 31 — and people joke about a biological clock, but it is a real thing and it does tick. I know a lot of people want to wait until they find a husband and stuff like that — and I think that’s important — but I just think it’s also important for people to know that you don’t have to wait to freeze your eggs and you can stop time by doing that. And that’s actually not something that I was enlightened to, because I was like, ‘Geez, I wish I would have did this when I was in, like, my late 20s.’
EBONY: And it’s something that, quite frankly, we don’t see a lot of Black women talking about.
TB: Yeah, because I think people look at it as if it was something that was negative, only because it wasn’t introduced in a positive light and people joked about it for long. Like, I remember people calling babies ‘test-tube babies.’ It’s actually not funny, you know? It’s actually very beautiful when you can’t conceive on your own, you can actually go to the doctor’s and with science you can create a child. And I just think that’s something that everybody needs to be aware of.
EBONY: What’s up with new Tamar music?
TB: I’m in that zone right now. I actually just Instagrammed a picture yesterday at the studio, because nobody believed that I was working on a record! I really am and I’ve been really, really working hard on it. And my single was supposed to come out this summer, then they pushed it back to September 20th, and then I just heard, like, a week ago that they wanted to move it back two weeks after that, so I’m stomping and fighting and throwing so many fits right now because I’m so ready for it to be out!
EBONY: In your own words, tell us who you are as a musician. Who is Tamar Braxton?
TB: It’s opinionated, it’s energetic, it’s fun, it’s sensitive and it’s loving. I’m not perfect and neither is my music. I don’t feel like it’s all the way perfect, because the things that I’m talking about are my real life experiences.
EBONY: Your life has changed so much in the last two years since the reality show first aired. What stands out the most to you?
TB: I think me growing into a more mature woman. I felt like for so long I was just this little sister, and I feel like with me being married and with me taking my business very seriously, I’ve been respected and there’s a certain responsibility with that.
EBONY: What’s the best advice has big sister Toni given you?
TB: Know your work. Sometimes you want things so bad you will kind of lower your standards and I’ve learned that once you do that, it’s really hard to go back, to get people to respect you and respect your craft.
