Tamar Braxton has opened up about her highly-publicized mental health crisis, including a suicide attempt, earlier this year.
On Taraji P. Henson's Facebook Watch show, Peace of Mind With Taraji, the reality television star revealed that she thought her 7-year-old son, Logan, would be better off without her.
"Logan was the reason why I made that decision. I just felt like he deserved better. I thought that I was embarrassing him being a fool on TV,” Braxton said, tearing up during the interview.
The 43-year-old mom said she didn’t want to cause her son any shame or make him feel any embarrassment when around his friends.
“Here’s his loud-mouthed ghetto mama," she said to Hensen, "because I knew that's not what my whole life really was… that’s not who I was."
In July, the singer was found unresponsive at a Ritz-Carlton in Los Angeles, California, by her former boyfriend David Adefeso, according to People Magazine. She was then transported to a facility for mental health treatment, ET Online reported.
Henson’s Facebook Watch show, which highlights the mental health journey of experts and everyday people, is one of her latest endeavors centered on raising awareness about mental health in the Black community, as Blavity previously reported.
In April, the Empire actress announced that she was launching the COVID-19 Free Virtual Therapy Campaign via the nonprofit she founded. Henson said "licensed, culturally competent clinicians" would be utilized throughout the program.
Online therapy sessions were first available through the Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation’s website this spring, but are now closed. Up to five sessions will be covered free of charge per person through the program, according to the foundation’s website.
“In the African American community, we’ve been taught to tough it out, hide our suffering, but [the pandemic] is something none of us has ever experienced and no one should suffer in silence,” Henson said.
The Peace of Mind host shared with Entertainment Tonight that it was a privilege to offer a safe space for Braxton to share her story.
"I love that she felt safe enough to come here with us," Henson said. "Because anyone that comes here, they are safe. I'm not some celebrity that just slap my name on this talk show. I am literally struggling myself. My best friend has struggled her entire life."
As her TV career has progressed, Braxton has expressed that she doesn’t feel that her character is accurately portrayed on the small screen.
In 2018, she went on Iyanla Vanzant’s show Iyanla: Fix My Life to discuss and work on her relationship with her siblings but stormed off the set, as Blavity previously reported. Braxton said Vanzant’s methods on her show were “too abrasive, and a little bit too much,” and she felt they were unnecessary, according to Essence.
Braxton says these days she's sober and working on her "sound mind and body," according to Entertainment Tonight. The full episode of Peace of Mind With Taraji featuring Braxton will air on Dec. 21.