Two weeks after Tamar Braxton was hospitalized in Los Angeles for attempting suicide, the former Real The co-host has released a powerful statement about the impact of reality shows on his mental health.
“I was betrayed, taken advantage of, overworked and underpaid,” Braxton wrote Thursday on social media. “More than two months ago I wrote a letter asking to be released from what I believed was excessive and unfair. I explained in personal detail the disappearance I was experiencing. My cry for help was totally ignored. However, the demands persisted. … Who I was [began] mean little or nothing, because it would only be as it was portrayed on television that would matter. He witnessed the slow death of the woman I became, which discouraged my will to fight. I felt I was no longer living. It existed for the purpose of earning profits and ratings from a corporation, and that killed me. Mental illness is real. We have to normalize recognition and stop associating it with shame and humiliation. “
Braxton continued, noting that “the personalities of reality shows have no union, no protection shield, no formal representation that protects our work, our rights, our voices. They promise us opportunities, but they produce exploitation, which has only developed a poor representation of blacks in the entertainment world. ”
After thanking his fans for their support, Braxton promised to “do everything in my power to help those [suffer] mental illness, including ours [whose] mental illness was only the result of the toxic and systematic slavery that inhabits [in] TV. It was only God’s grace and mercy in my attempt to end my pain and my life that I am here to use my voice. “
Read Braxton’s full statement below:
A member of the regular WE TV cast Braxton Family Values Since 2011, Braxton has also starred alongside then-husband Vince Herbert in the spin-off. Tamar and Vince from 2012 to 2017. Served as co-host of The real from 2013 to 2016, during which she (along with her fellow co-hosts) was nominated for two Daytime Emmy Awards.
Although she was forced to withdraw from Dancing with the stars In 2015 due to injury, Braxton returned to the world of reality competitions in 2019, winning the second season of Celebrity Big Brother. She has also served as a guest judge in RuPaul’s Drag Race (twice) and HBO Max’s Legendary.
On the scripted front, Braxton has been a guest star on episodes of The soul man, Being mary jane, In the cut and The daring and the pretty.
Braxton’s next television adventure, Tamar Braxton: Get your life, premiered on July 30 on WE tv, but has since been postponed. Check out the trailer below:
TVLine has contacted WE TV for comment.
If you are thinking about committing suicide, are concerned about a friend or loved one, or want emotional support, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline toll-free number: 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
