While appearing on Tamron Hall, Toni Braxton opened up about her late sister Traci Braxton’s final months and how she’s dealing with her loss, E! Online reports. It was the singer’s first appearance since losing her sister earlier this month to esophageal cancer.

“I thought I was doing OK until you started talking,” Toni said after host Tamron Hall asked her how she was doing. “It kind of took me there. I miss my sister so much, every day, but I’m glad to be here.”

During the conversation, the singer expressed her disbelief that her sister is no longer here.

“I wake up every morning and I go, ‘Did I dream it? Did I dream it?’ and I have to remind myself, ‘No, she’s gone, but she’s been here with us for 50 years,'” Toni said. “So, I try to relish in that moment and try to smile about it and just be grateful for the time you have and you have to always remember to be kind to one another.”

 

Toni told Hall about the “tough year” the Braxton family had after learning of Traci’s diagnosis. She said Traci remained “optimistic” and was “hopeful that she was going to get better.”

“Actually she had a lot more time then initially said. She had another six months that she was with us and we got to savor that moment with her,” the 54-year-old said, adding that their family stayed in the Washington, D.C., area to be closer to her sister.

 

She also shared other intimate family moments during Traci’s final days, recalling the morning her younger sister passed.

“My sister Traci loved when it snows and she died that morning when it was pouring down snow in Virginia,” she says. “We got to see her last breath.”

While speaking with Hall, the Grammy Award-winning artist shared her sisters’ plan for Traci’s birthday on April 2.

Both Hall and the singer got emotional during the interview, which is part of Toni’s press tour for her upcoming Lifetime film Fallen Angels Murder Club.