For the past three years, Toni Braxton has given fans a behind the scenes look into her life on the hit reality show Braxton Family Values, but in her new memoir Unbreak My Heart , the Grammy Award winning singer is now revealing startling revelations about her personal life, including a difficult decision she once made to have an abortion, and the reasons why she decided to get plastic surgery.
“I never thought I would have to do that,” the 46-year-old singer revealed in an emotional interview with Entertainment Tonight‘s Nancy O’Dell. “I felt selfish because I was thinking ‘I’m going through bankruptcy, there’s things going on in my life, I can’t give my kid any future’…just feeling hopEless for no reason. What was I thinking?”
Braxton also shared that at the time she was on the powerful acne medication Accutane—which has been clinically linked to causing serious side effects to a fetus.
She added: “I am not really embarrassed about it, I am more ashamed of myself for doing that because I could’ve figured something out financially. That was just an excuse I was making for myself.”
When asked if she still suffers any guilt for her decision, Braxton responded, “I often tell myself I have three kids. I have two boys, but I often have to tell myself I have two kids. But in my head I feel like I have three kids.”
In 2001, Braxton gave birth to her son Denim, and later Deizel in 2003. It was later revealed that Diezel, now 11 years old, was diagnosed with Autism—a diagnosis that Toni saw as a punishment for her abortion.
“I thought it was because of the abortion, God was punishing me,” she shared. “It took a long time for me to get past that.”
Since her debut in 1992, Braxton has long been credited with her sultry appearance. In the hour long interview with O’Dell, Braxton disclosed the reasons why she opted to get plastic surgery, the first operation being rhinoplasty (read: nose job) and later breast augmentation.
“I didn’t feel the pressure [from the music industry]…I just wanted to look better in my clothes,” she said. “I used to duct-tape the skin that I had. I would just take the skin and just suck it up, and tape it around. I would have marks all over my body.”
“To be more honest, I just wanted some boobies. I liked how they looked.” she added. “My sisters had boobies, I wasn’t as fortunate as they were. They used to call me Aunt Dottie.’
Braxton’s latest album Love, Marriage & Divorce—released this past February in collaboration with her longtime mentorKenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, reached number one on Billboard Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart.
Source: Centric