Oprah is back in the news, and this time it’s not for a good reason. She’s facing backlash for allegedly trying to ruin Toni Braxton’s career. Some old videos have resurfaced where Toni talks about how Oprah nearly destroyed her career to boost her own.
Toni was on Oprah’s show during a tough time in her life. She was dealing with bankruptcy and health issues. Instead of offering support, Oprah embarrassed her and made her look irresponsible. That interview really hurt Toni’s career and reputation.
Fans are pointing out that this isn’t the first time Oprah has done something like this. It seems like whenever black entertainers are on her show, she tries to make them look bad. And if anyone dares to oppose her, they find out quickly just how much of a bully she can be. Just ask Monique and Ludacris.
So, what does Toni Braxton have to say about Oprah after all these years? Let’s find out.
“So freaking mean to me. I was in shock. Do you take responsibility for the situation that you’re in right now? 100%, 100%, 100%. I couldn’t believe it because I…”
Toni Braxton is spilling all the tea about how Oprah did her dirty when she appeared on her show years ago. At that time, Toni was going through one of the toughest moments in her career. She was tens of millions of dollars in debt and had to file for bankruptcy. On top of that, she was dealing with rumors in the media claiming that her financial troubles were due to her lavish lifestyle, which she insists wasn’t true.
But if it wasn’t due to extravagant spending, how did she end up in such a bad financial situation, especially considering she was one of the most successful R&B artists of her generation? At her peak, Toni had sold over 40 million records. She came from a deeply religious family and started singing in her church choir. Later, she became part of the singing group The Braxtons, which included her and her four sisters: Tracy, Towanda, Trina, and Tamar.
Her talent in The Braxtons caught the eye of music executive Antonio “L.A.” Reid and producer Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, who signed her to their label, LaFace Records. In July 1993, Toni’s self-titled album was released under LaFace Records and achieved massive commercial and critical success. It peaked at number one on the US Billboard 200 and reached the top 10 in Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, and the UK. The album featured timeless singles like “Another Sad Love Song” and “Breathe Again,” earning Toni three Grammy Awards and three American Music Awards. It was also certified eight times platinum.
Her next album, “Secrets,” released in 1996, was even more successful. It achieved everything the first album did and sold 15 million copies internationally. This album included some of the biggest singles of Toni’s career, “Un-Break My Heart” and “You’re Makin’ Me High.”
At this point in her career, Toni Braxton was a household name. You couldn’t talk about pop or R&B without mentioning her. She had sold tens of millions of albums worldwide, making many people very rich—except herself. Despite her international superstardom, Toni had to file for bankruptcy in 1998, the same year she made her Broadway debut as Belle in “Beauty and the Beast.”
It later came out that Toni had been engaged in a heated lawsuit with her record label, who refused to pay her what she was worth. Toni was signed to LaFace, with a distribution deal through Arista Records. This meant that by the time profits from her music reached her, they had been divided every which way. And when she finally got her share, she had to pay Uncle Sam, her manager, her team, and everyone else. What was left for her was peanuts.
You would think that Oprah, being in the same business, and as a woman and black, would understand how these things worked. But when Toni appeared on the Oprah show in March 1998, Oprah did not hold back. She criticized Toni, accusing her of extravagant spending on things like Gucci silverware—something even Oprah claimed not to own.
“First of all, I didn’t know Gucci made silverware. When you had Gucci silverware and baby grand pianos, and you’re used to wearing $5,000-$7,000 gowns and spending $500 on shoes, do you take responsibility for your financial situation? 100%, 100%, 100%.”
“How did that happen?” Oprah asked.
“Because I allowed all my finances to become everyone else’s finances. That’s pretty much how I got out here. You know, you wear the expensive dresses and shoes, but I was personally financing the image everyone sees. I was the one financing it. Most people are, because the old studio days are long gone. Someone’s making $170-180 million, and I got a tiny fraction of that. It’s almost impossible. It’s my fault because I trusted and believed. I came to Atlanta, met all these wonderful people, trusted them, and they believed in me and my talent. I thought, ‘They have to be trusted,'” Toni explained.
“You trusted them with your money?”
“I know, right? I really did.”
“So you didn’t handle all your checks and sign them yourself?”
“No, I didn’t. I would get my money and transfer it to other people. Sometimes the money went directly to those people because I was on the road so much.”
“And I’d watch your show and hear you and Bill Cosby say, ‘Make sure you sign all your checks.'”
“Yeah, it started that way.”
“You didn’t believe us?”
“I believed in everyone else instead. I was focused on mastering my artistry, singing on stage, and touring for almost a year straight. It just got overwhelming.”
Oprah was implying that Toni’s bankruptcy was due to being reckless, irresponsible, and lacking good financial management.
“I read that you were upset about stories saying your overspending caused this. But even if you didn’t get the percentage you thought you should, you still knew there was a certain amount of money coming in.”
“Exactly, exactly.”
“And you overspent that amount of money.”
“Well, I was doing the math. One plus one is two all day long, all over the world, and I was still coming up negative. I sold over 20 million records, so I expected more money to come in.”
“And sometimes you only get a check twice a year.”
“Yes, when the statements come in. So I thought, ‘Okay, I’ll have money coming in from touring,’ but then there was no money.”
“So were you spending money when there was no money coming in?”
“I was spending money on touring. Touring is very expensive. You know, you have to pay for the lights, every single expense.”
“I need to go home soon, right?”
“Yes, it’s very expensive. When you go to a concert, everything you see costs money.”
“So these chairs we’re sitting on, we’re paying for them?”
“Yes, you pay for everything. I invested a lot of money in my career. Other artists of my caliber would get tour support, but I got a loan. So while I was touring, I had to pay back the loan as well as the cost of touring. I couldn’t generate enough to get out of the debt.”
“So what did you learn from this?”
Fast forward to 2010, and Toni found herself in the same financial trouble she faced in 1998—broke, heavily in debt, and on her way to Chapter 7 bankruptcy. By then, Toni’s career had grown with albums like “The Heat,” “More Than a Woman,” and “Libra.” She also had a successful acting career with several leading roles.
In 2006, Toni began her Las Vegas residency, replacing Wayne Newton. The show “Toni Braxton: Revealed” was so successful that it was extended to August 2008. However, Toni was diagnosed with microvascular angina (MVA), a heart condition, leading to the show’s cancellation. Later that year, she had to pull out of “Dancing with the Stars” to recover from surgery to remove a benign breast tumor. Then she was diagnosed with lupus, a hereditary autoimmune disease that took her uncle’s life. Doctors told Toni she would never be able to perform again, except maybe one or two songs occasionally. This sent Toni back into debt, causing her to file for bankruptcy again in 2010.
“The Vegas show, I had just renewed all my contracts with my vendors, and then a month later, I got sick.”
At that time, court documents showed Toni owed between $10 million and $50 million. She had to sell off her clothes, jewelry, cars, and even her Grammys to pay her tax debts, but she still had a huge amount of debt left.
“She filed for bankruptcy. Appraisers are now taking stock of her personal belongings: her baby grand piano, Gucci silverware, Porsche, Lexus, and even her shoes and Grammys.”
“First of all, I didn’t know Gucci made…”
Her representative explained that after months of trying to reach an agreement with her main creditors, Toni decided that the only way to meet her tax obligations and support her two young children was to file for bankruptcy.
By 2012, Toni was ready to share her side of the story. She sat down with ABC for an honest interview about everything that led to her two bankruptcies. According to Toni, the industry is a place where everyone looks out for their own interests, but no one cares about the artist who has to show up every day to make everyone else happy. Instead, they trap you in unfair deals that leave you drowning in debt.
“What happens is they’ll give you an advance on the next record and the next record, so you end up staying in debt.”
Despite making over $170 million in album sales during the ’90s, Toni only received $1,972 after everyone else got paid.
“$170 million in sales and you got $1,972? Is that right?”
“That’s right, that’s true.”
Toni explained:
“I sold over 40 million records, yet my royalties were less than $2,000. What many people don’t know is that an artist makes 4 to 7 cents on the dollar for every album sold, and they have to pay back $20 million to the label for all the money spent to create, promote, and sell that album.”
Toni admitted she had a habit of overspending on home decor, indulging in things like antique plates, Fabergé eggs, and high-thread-count sheets.
“You might have slightly lost touch with reality.”
“I love dishes and house things, so I kind of went overboard on houseware plates and Fabergé eggs.”
“Very rock and roll, but it’s…”
“No, it’s not very rock and roll. I’m a boring rock star. I love girly things. Oh yeah, that’s what I indulge in.”
“Really?”
“Oh yeah, and sheets, and thousand-count thread count, all that. That’s about the weirdest, I’m a little odd.”
With a voice like hers, Toni should have been able to indulge in anything she wanted. But she couldn’t because everyone around her was looking to profit off her without looking out for her, including her manager Barry Hankerson. In 2007, Toni filed a $10 million lawsuit against Hankerson for fraud, deception, and double-dealing. The lawsuit claimed Hankerson put his personal gain above her interests, manipulating both her and the record label. He would tell Arista that Toni didn’t want to work with them anymore and then tell Toni that Arista had lost interest in her. From the record labels to her manager to people like Oprah, nobody gave Toni the space she needed to thrive.
When it comes to Oprah, Toni Braxton hasn’t forgiven or forgotten what happened back in 1998 when she appeared on her show. Toni later opened up about that episode, describing how Oprah kicked her while she was already down. Toni had always admired Oprah, looking up to her in many ways, but when she appeared on Oprah’s show, Oprah nearly told Toni to go sit in the corner as punishment for being bankrupt. This left Toni feeling humiliated and small.
“She was so mean to me. I was in shock,” Toni said. “‘Do you take responsibility for the situation you’re in right now?’ she asked. I replied, ‘100%, 100%, 100%.’ I couldn’t believe it because I loved her so much. I admired her, and she pretty much reprimanded me. ‘Here you have Gucci flatware,’ she said. ‘I’m Oprah Winfrey, and I don’t have Gucci flatware.’ You don’t have Gucci flatware because you chose not to buy it, not because you couldn’t afford it. What do you mean? She made me feel so small. That moment completely changed my career and made people look down on me.”
It’s surprising how Oprah couldn’t take a moment to understand what Toni was going through. But many know that Oprah can throw anyone under the bus for views. She did something similar to Ludacris when he came on her show to promote his 2004 film “Crash.” Instead of focusing on the movie, Oprah started criticizing Luda for the strong language in his music, even though he wasn’t there to talk about his music. The worst part? When the episode aired, Oprah edited out Luda’s response, making it look like he just sat there silently while she insulted him.
“It was a lot of comments she made about my music,” Luda recalled. “I was there for ‘Crash,’ the movie. She said she didn’t agree with my music but thought I did great in the movie. I was up there with the whole cast of ‘Crash.’ I didn’t feel it needed to be said. Even if you don’t agree with certain songs I’ve made, don’t say you disagree with all of my music.”
“When I saw the final show, her comments were there, but mine weren’t. It looked like I just took it.”
“Wow,” his co-interviewee responded.
If anyone doubts that Oprah thrives on sacrificing and humiliating others on her platform, they’re delusional. What’s more terrifying is that when people stand up to Oprah and refuse to be humiliated, she bullies them into submission. Over a decade ago, Mo’Nique refused to go on a free press tour that wasn’t in her contract for the movie “Precious.” Since then, she’s struggled to get her career back on track because Oprah felt offended that Mo’Nique didn’t obey her. According to Mo’Nique, Oprah spread rumors that she was difficult to work with, leading to her being blackballed in the industry.
“I’m unapologetic and unwavering because when I see Oprah Winfrey, a black woman, watch another black woman be thrown under the bus based on a lie, it’s heartbreaking,” Mo’Nique said.
But that wasn’t enough. Oprah embarrassed Mo’Nique by bringing her entire family on her show, despite Mo’Nique confiding in her that she wasn’t on good terms with them because of her brother’s actions.
“Then the show came, and I saw my mother, father, and my other brother, who was my manager. We didn’t discuss that, Oprah,” Mo’Nique explained.
“Wait, he was your manager?” the interviewer asked.
“And I watched my brother, who molested me, sit on stage trying to paint a picture of helping, but it was a scam. As they kept talking, I saw the scam unfold,” Mo’Nique continued.
It’s hard to understand how Oprah sleeps at night knowing she has wronged so many people, but at this point, everyone is over it. Over the years, many artists have exposed Oprah for her negative treatment and habit of intentionally hurting people. Everyone can’t be wrong, and Oprah has refused to comment. Is it jealousy? Maybe. Oprah can be very judgmental and petty.
