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In the latest episode of RedTableTalk, Jada Pinkett-Smith talks relationships and divorce with #ToniBraxton. Pinkett-Smith’s Facebook show has tackled various topics including race, relationships, rumors, and friendships. In the latest chat, Pinkett-Smith sat down with award-winning singer Toni Braxton, who opened up about previous relationships and how she “hated being divorced” from her ex-husband Keri Lewis.
Braxton and Lewis were married for 12 years and filed for divorce in 2013. The two then tried to rekindle their flame and began dating following their divorce. “My husband became my boyfriend, and we were attempting to salvage the relationship again, we were hopeful,” she said, “We dated for a good year and a half, almost two years after we got a divorce. I know it sounds crazy, right?” When it came to the couple’s children, Braxton says they tried their best to protect them from their drama. “I thought we were going to get back together and we were clever, we’d wait for the kids to go to sleep and he would leave,” she explained.
Braxton went on to say the two split because of financial issues. “I felt shallow because my ex-husband and I broke up for money issues,” she explained. “I found out I had lupus at the time, I couldn’t make money because I had lupus, I had to cancel the show. That was my personal contribution to the marriage failing, because who wants to take care of a person who’s sick all the time?” Braxton said Lewis never said he was upset about her being sick but that’s how she felt. “I always felt like if I didn’t get sick and I could have continued to work, we wouldn’t have had that deficit, it wouldn’t have shown its face, and we would probably have still been together,” she added.
Braxton also had to pay her ex-husband alimony, as a part of their divorce settlement. “I was one of those girls,” she joked, “It’s me, it’s Britney [Spears], it’s Halle [Berry], Mary [J. Blige] is allegedly.” She went on, “I was very very angry about that, but it was because we had an existing prenup and post-nup,” she explained. “I wanted to reneg. I’m gonna be honest. I thought he should say no. [But] if it were reversed and a guy had more, we would expect him to make sure the lady’s okay, we would expect that. So I can’t really bitch about it too much, however, semi-colon, that’s a tough pill.”
Braxton explains that the divorce wasn’t a “defeat,” but was actually a “successful marriage” that was “what it was supposed to be.” She also referred to Lewis as an “extension of [her] family.” Today, Braxton is happily engaged to Birdman.
