Latavia Roberson‘s story has been a rollercoaster to say the least.
Rising to fame as one-fourth of the top-selling quartet (and later trio) Destiny’s Child, her unceremonious ousting from the group led her to find her own way in the fickle music industry. A way, mind you, that’s seen her try her hand at being part of another group before spreading her solo wings, eventually landing on a spinoff of TV One’s ‘R&B Divas’ franchise and later venturing away from her R&B roots to give a go at electronic dance music (EDM) with 2017’s ‘Best Time of Your Life.’
Now, some 17 years after her departure from DC4, the songstress is readying a tell-all book, ‘I Am Latavia: My Story. My Destiny.’ Originally announced in late 2016, the memoir has been repackaged with an accompanying docuseries to not only detail her time with and after the group, but also her personal struggles (i.e. molestation, miscarriage, and more)…
What have you been doing since you left Destiny’s Child?
Well, since I was dismissed from Destiny’s Child, I went into a place of depression from childhood — being molested by my stepfather, dealing with substance abuse and stuff like that. There was a point in time where I couldn’t be vocal about things because I had no voice.
When I did resurface, what I heard even in my darkest moments was to “give back.” When I came back into the light, I’ve been doing just that. I ended up on R&B Divas, I’ve been doing a lot of speaking, philanthropy work and things for the LGBT community. I’m in the studio working with some artists behind the scenes — to be the mogul behind putting out projects for other artists.
You have a memoir coming out. What will it cover?
My life, and being transparent about the times nobody saw me after Destiny’s Child. A lot of people were wondering what was going on with me, and I thought that it was fair to let them know exactly what I was going through, and speak about my life in the group.
To piggyback that, I had been in talks with a production company to start a docuseries based on my book, which I’m very excited to be the Executive Producer of.
What would the docuseries mainly cover from the book?
…There aren’t a lot of things that I’ve not gone through that some people would never think I’ve gone through. I only speak through my experiences. I love to give back. I hope to be able to help people at the end of the day and see whatever the sky will bring me from there.
Who will you be bringing into the series?
It has to be based on people that were a part of my life from the time of when my book started to where I end it. Of course my family. I would definitely reach out to LaToya, Meelah [Williams] from 702, Leanne Lyons and Coko [Gamble] and Taj [Johnson] from SWV. I just ran into Wyclef Jean maybe three or four months ago. You never know. You have to reach out to people and see. A lot of these people weren’t around during the downtime of my life, so I really need people to talk about the grit and ugly part of my life. It has to be authentic: I’m not trying to hide anything from anyone. I have nothing to lose right now.
*****
Read the interview in its entirety by clicking here.