In reply to Paulo.

We'll never forget!

LeToya was like tone deaf, Beyoncé says. She wasn't even originally a singershe was a rapper, Kelly adds. Beyoncé agrees, then continues: LaTavia was originally brought in the group as a dancer. She was my best friend, and I wanted her to be in the group.

It was like being in a bad marriage when you have kids and you act like you're happy, says Beyoncé. And act they did. But once the cameras stopped rolling it was a different story. Beyoncé and Kelly believe LaTavia and LeToya changed when boys got in their heads (the boys being twins Brandon and Brian Casey from the group Jagged Edge). They lost focus, Beyoncé says. They didn't want to do interviews, rehearse, or take voice lessons. Anybody that met us could see that me and Kelly were one group and they were another. It was obvious. LeToya denies her ex-boyfriend Brian and his brother had anything to do with the demise of that incarnation of the group. Nevertheless, the rift grew into a Grand Canyon-sized divide when Mathew Knowles had LeToya's mother, Pamela Luckett, ejected from the tour bus one evening in Baton Rouge. Knowles claims Luckett was not covered by the insurance company to ride in the vehicle, and that the girls didn't want her there. Outraged that someone would have the gall to kick someone's mama off the bus,Brian says he and the guys of Jagged Edge, who were on tour with the girls at the time, left the bus in protest. We were just so disgusted, Brian says. Not for one minute did those girls [Beyoncé and Kelly] put themselves in LeToya's shoes.

In a letter dated January 17, 2000, Beyoncé wrote, I have shared some of the best moments in my life with the two of you by my side. I have also shared some of the worst. She then went on to list several transgressions perpetrated against her by LeToya and LaTavia.I never complained when you didn't sing one note on numerous songs on the album. I've never complained that when I was working my butt off in the studio, as I did on the last album, that the two of you were both either sleeping or on your phones approximately 80 percent of the time. I never complained when the two of you were lipsinging [sic] to my vocals on some of the videos and onstage. In fact, I only helped make our contributions appear to be equal to the public. By the end of her letter Beyoncé was clearly heated: Approximately every three weeks (or less) there is drama caused by one or both of you! It has been this way for at least the past two years and I don't deserve this!

Tina Knowles backs her daughter's claims. From the time LeToya got in the group there was always drama, always jealousy, always madness, she says. People don't know all the crap that we've been through with LeToya and LaTavia. By the time the management thing came, Beyoncé and Kelly had been so miserable it was the last insult they could take. Tina adds, You give people an inch and they take a mile, and that's basically what happened. Beyoncé and Kelly kissed their butts all the time, spoke to them first, and then went into the studio and did all the work.