attends the 2017 Soul Train Awards, presented by BET, at the Orleans Arena on November 5, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Evelyn Braxton, the matriarch of the Braxton family and a cast member of We TV’s “Braxton Family Values,” was trending recently because she said in an interview with TMZ that she was afraid her son-in-law, Vincent Herbert, might kill her daughter Tamar. This was big news because Mama E has no pattern of spilling anyone’s beans so whenever she speaks it’s automatically viewed as truth. And in an interview with “The Rickey Smiley Show” last week, she shared even more insight into her daughter’s abusive relationship.
During her appearance, Mama E said that Vincent has been abusing Tamar for “a long time.” She went on to say that Tamar’s sisters alluded to his abuse on the show, but WeTV deliberately ignored it because Vince is an Executive Producer.
“I think Vincent is a bully; I’m just being honest,” Evelyn said. “Fighting and cursing and name-calling and what bothers me is the baby is right there in the midst of it.”
Although she’s adamant about Vince’s violent behavior, Evelyn says daughter is in denial, as is expected of most battered woman, shooting down any comments from her sisters about Vince abusing her. “…yet your eyes are black,” Mama E retorted. “Yet, you have bruises on your shoulders. You’re always ending up in the hospital with blood clots. Come on!”
Explaining how Tamar got to this place in her marriage, Miss Evelyn continued, “Women, in general, are just — and I love women because I’m a woman — we’re kind of weak minded when it comes to love. We pass the idea of being in love and we become being in fool…you’re blind to everything.”
As a viewer of other reality shows, I know sometimes drama is staged to increase ratings, but I doubt that Mama E is on that train. In this interview, she sincerely wants people to know that her daughter was in an unsafe situation and said she’s speaking up because “over 12,000 women are abused and killed every year” and she doesn’t want Tamar to become one of them. She has become tired of hiding and crying behind closed doors and praying about their situation. For her, it is time to speak so that her daughter’s life — and the lives of other women — are saved.
I applaud Mama E for exposing Vince’s abuse. Clearly, she has known about this for years, and hiding it and talking about it behind closed doors has not worked. Asked whether she thinks Tamar and Vince could reconcile, she said, “If he does not go and get counseling and get help then that’s not a good idea.”
