Saturday night, OWN aired, arguably, one of its most explosive episodes ever as Iyanla Vanzant of the hit show “Iyanla Fix My Life” sat down for a heart to heart with DMX. The rapper went on the show to figure out why he has such a large appetite for women, but as we saw by the 9-minute mark on the show (at least that’s when I noticed), DMZ had zero interest in getting to the real root of his issues –like drug use and a never-ending feeling of abandonment.
Personally, when all was said and done I didn’t know whether I even wanted to #SupportDMX as Iyanla suggested we do before the show began when she briefed the audience on the episode, saying:
“The next 90 minutes is not about a multiplatinum selling Hip-Hop artist or a celebrity. It’s about a deeply wounded man in a lot of pain. This show, is about the ravages of a longterm drug problem,” said Vanzant at the start of the segment. “I often say, I am not my brothers keeper, I am my brother. Earl Simmons, also known as DMX is my brother. He’s our brother. Earl, I pray you are watching, I support you, and I call forth your healing.”
Though Iyanla suggested DMX’s son Xavier, who confronted him on the show, approach his father non-judgmentally because he suffers from the disease of addiction, it was clear DMX was not fully ready to accept any responsibility for his failed relationship with his soon-to-be ex-wife Tashera, his strained relationship with his son, or his abuse of drugs. And more importantly, he was resistant to any form of help (from Iyanla) and incapable of accepting love (he told his son Xavier he wouldn’t get clean in order to have a relationship with him because his love should be unconditional). By the end of the episode, my empathy for X’s plight and the pain of his mother giving him up that he’s never gotten over, turned to disappointment that he would sign up for an opportunity like this and not even try to reap the benefits.
Sensing, or likely reading the negative response from viewers who lit up Twitter Saturday night when the episode aired, DMX’s publicist released a statement defending the rapper’s portrayal, saying:
“DMX agreed to be a guest on ‘Iyanla: Fix My Life’ with the understanding that she would be helping his relationships with his ten children. When he arrived for the taping, most of the content was focused on his struggles with drugs and poor parenting. Iyanla did not “fix” DMX’s life just made his image worse, and does not have DMX’s personal written consent to use the footage.”
Let’s see here, if Iyanla was sypposed to help his relationship with his 10 children, wouldn’t it be reasonable to assume the reason those relationships need help is because of poor parenting, which stems from drug use? I would say X needs more people, but perhaps the better thing would be different people. Also, this wasn’t even the reasoning he gave for being on the show at the beginning of the episode. He said he wanted to understand why he needed so many women. It sounds like both he and his publicist are confused about a lot of things. It’s no wonder at 42-years-old and after a stint on another couples show, VH1’s “Couple’s Therapy,” DMX is still on a downward spiral. Thankfully, his son Xavier and Tasheera seem to have made peace with the situation, tweeting:
https://twitter.com/xaviersimmons92/status/323474806693572609
Let’s hope DMX gets to that point one day. If you missed him on “Iyanla Fix My Life,” watch the whole episode below. What do you think about his appearance? Is Iyanla responsible for making his image worse?
