Update: 9:00 PM EST (July 31, 2020) — WEtv and Tamar Braxton are ending their business relationship, the cable network announced in a statement Friday (July 31). “Tamar Braxton has been an important part of our network family for more than a decade,” the company said per TMZ.
“As she focuses on her health and recovery at what is clearly a difficult and personal time, we will work with her representatives to honor her request to end all future work for the network.” Despite parting ways, WE tv plans to air Braxton’s reality show, Get Ya Life! on Sept. 10.
Original story…
Tamar Braxton is speaking out for the first time, since being hospitalized for a suspected suicide attempt earlier in the month. In a lengthy and emotional statement posted on Instagram on Thursday (July 30), Braxton thanked well-wishers and addressed her issues with reality television.
“Thank you to each and every individual who has prayed for me, thought of me, sent me their love and has showered me with their support,” Braxton began. “In this present moment, it is my only responsibility to be real with myself and to be real with the ones who truly love me and care for my healing. I have without fail, shared with you my brightest days, and I know that sharing with you what has been my darkest will be the light for any man or woman who is feeling the same defeat I felt just only a week ago.”
Despite revealing her discrepancies with WEtv and Braxton Family Values, Braxton did not name the network or the show directly. “Over the past 11 years there were promises made to protect and portray my story, with the authenticity and honesty I gave. I was betrayed, taken advantage of, overworked, and underpaid.”
Braxton noted that reality TV stars are subject to exploitation as they are not represented by a labor union, and confirmed reports that she wrote a letter to WEtv requesting a release from the contract that she believes to be “excessive and unfair.”
Ultimately, Braxton’s “cry for help” was ignored and her true identity became overshadowed by how she was portrayed on television. “It was witnessing the slow death of the woman I became, that discouraged my will to fight. I felt like I was no longer living, I was existing for the purpose of a [corporation’s] gain and ratings, and that killed me.
“Mental illness is real,” she continued. “We must normalize acknowledging it and stop associating it with shame and humiliation. The pain that I have experienced over the past 11 years has slowly ate away at my spirit and my mental. I will do everything in my power to aid those who [suffer] from mental illness, including those of us who’s mental illness was only a result from the toxic, systematic bondage that dwells [in] television. It was only God’s grace and his mercy on my attempt to end my pained life that I am here to utilize my voice.”
Braxton said that she’s learning to “grow through” her pain “instead of looking for an escape,” has embarked on an “irreversible path to healing,” and is focused on her 7-year-old son, Logan.
“I’m taking my time. It’s is of the upmost importance that I find my happy and my health, through professional treatment, for the sake of my whole heart. Logan, who I forgot in my moment of distress and desperation. And giving this journey my undivided attention. My rise will not be in vain.”
Earlier in the week, WE tv announced that the premiere date for Braxton’s reality show, Get Ya Life!, would be pushed back from July 30 to September 10.
Read Braxton’s full message below.