*“Braxton Family Values” star Towanda Braxton is speaking out about co-parenting with her ex-husband Andre Carter and the status of her engagement to her new boo-thang, Sean Hall.
Braxton and Carter married in 2004 and called it quits in 2017. The highs and lows of their marriage were documented on the Braxton family’s reality show and now that their union is over, Towanda claims her ex is currently a non-factor in the lives of their children. She refers to Andre as her “wasband.”
Braxton opened up about her personal life with Tami Roman on her new show, “Get Into It With Tami Roman.”
Check out a few highlights from the conversation below, per MadameNoire.
READ MORE: Towanda Braxton Accused of Stealing Her Mother’s SSI Check
Tami Roman: How has it been raising kids after this divorce?
Towanda: Ugh. It’s been a little challenging. Like I said, my wasband isn’t involved in their lives at all. At all. He doesn’t see them. He bumped into my son about a year or so ago. You heard me, bumped into. He hasn’t seen our daughter in about three years. And it’s just—it hurts my heart. I thought that it would be helpful for them to immediately go into counseling. They have to get their feelings out. They have to understand that it’s not their fault. Kids will carry on that burden for a long time. I never wanted that for my kids.
I’m a product of my parents getting a divorce and It was hard for me and I was grown. I know that kids can bounce back and they’re resilient but I want to make sure they do it in a healthy way.
Tami: Him not being involved with the kids, is it because of your dynamic with him? Sometimes people don’t know how to co-parent after divorce.
Towanda: Honestly, I have to tell you that he told me that if I divorced him, he would just be cordial with the kids. He’s not going to want to have anything to do with the kids. Let me tell you something, sis. I am a Virgo. I am the responsible one in the family. I actually taped him. I recorded the conversation. I actually have it on tape. These aren’t the things that I’m making up. I’m not defaming him in anyway. These are just facts.
Tami: He seemed like a good support system for you. Then by season 3 we started seeing…
Towanda: Sprinkles of the truth because I sheltered it for a long time. I was protective over that because I felt like in our community, in reality shows I felt like that’s all you saw was bashing African American men. And I didn’t want to be a part of that. I just didn’t want that. Now, I’m like Towanda, what are you doing for you, girl? You’re protecting everybody else. What are you doing for yourself? So I just have to start telling the truth.
Tami: Is there a way to get him to come around, be a part, make him understand that they want a relationship with him.
Towanda: I’ve tried all of that. I also reached out to him. He blocked me. In the beginning, he was putting my son in the middle of a lot of things. I told him, ‘You can hate me. I don’t care.’ Blame it on me. It’s my fault that we’re not together. It’s my fault. But at the end of the day, it’s not about us, it’s about the children. And then I told him, in order to move forward with the children, call their counselor, talk to their counselor to make sure we’re on the same page. He doesn’t want to do that.
Tami: Last fall you surprised your entire family with your engagement to Sean. How did you manage to keep that a secret?
Towanda: It’s unofficial official if that makes sense.
Tami: That don’t make no sense.
Towanda: It does. Yes, it does Tami. You know it does. We’ve been talking about marriage. We know we’re going to get married. It’s going to be a great situation because I’m the only sister that never had a wedding. So it’s going to be a big deal. He gave me a promise ring from Tiffany. I don’t care we go. I don’t care how big or small my ring is, I just love him. He’s an incredible guy and I’m just so blessed to have a man like that. And because he’s in the business, I don’t have to explain things to him.
Tami: What made you trust him? What I think I’m hearing it was his presence with the kids that made you trust him.
Towanda: Yeah that but before then, he didn’t meet the kids until I knew it was going to be what it is. Even though I knew him for a long time, I didn’t carry my luggage with me. I left my luggage with my wasband. I had to understand that each male is an individual. And because I went through these things with my wasband—while we were together, he never stopped being in a relationship with other people. I realize he’s an individual and I couldn’t carry all the cheating and the lying into this relationship or it wouldn’t have been healthy. But he made it safe for me to talk about it. He was inviting. He was like you’ve got to get it out, honey. The more you talk about it, the less it becomes a trigger.
In the beginning, I would still be upset about the things my wasband put me through but then all of that stuff left. So even now with my talking about it, I’m very calm. I don’t feel like I’m the victim. When you’re a victim there has to be a hero and there has to be a villain. I decided I was going to be my own hero.
You can listen to Towanda’s full interview with Tami Roman in the video below.
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