R&B legend Toni Braxton is enjoying renewed exposure as of late, thanks largely to her new WeTV series ‘Braxton Family Values’.
It appears the singer is keen to use the platform to shed light on why she filed for bankruptcy for a second time last year – a topic she talked in depth about while plugging the show in Black Enterprise.
Check out what she had to say after the jump. It certainly makes for quite an insightful read…
Via Black Enterprise:
Your first bankruptcy occurred while you were signed to LaFace,but you weren’t able to talk about it. What went wrong?
No I couldn’t [talk about it] because I had a 10-year gag order. After TLC talked publicly about their bankruptcy [the label prohibited] other LaFace artists to talk, but now I can. I sold more than 40 million records, yet my royalty’s were less than $2000 dollars. People don’t understand that this issue went all the way to Congress about bankruptcy. All contracts are null and void except for a recording artist. Can you believe it? But the industry has changed now.
Some reports said that you were overspending and that the result was the financial trouble you experienced. Is that true?
People were reporting things like I bought Gucci flatware. Yes, I treated myself, and it was only $500. If I bought 1000 count sheets, they were from TJ Maxx for about $49, so I wasn’t living extravagantly. Yes, of course I spent money, but when you consider 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 that was spent to create, promote and sell that album, then, yeah, chances are you’ll end up in a whole lot of debt.
What would you say was the biggest money mistake you’ve ever made?
Tying up my own money for my Vegas show through my new company, Liberty Entertainment. Because of that, I had to file a business and individual bankruptcy. If I had to do it over again, I would get investors. I understand why you do it yourself because of the security; but putting your own money up isn’t [always] the best idea.
Yet another case, point, example, of why folk and certain sects of the media shouldn’t be so quick to comment without knowing the facts. Kudos to Toni for staying strong and pushing on.