The last I heard, Natalie and Marsha were good. They had put their differences from the early 2000s behind the and had started making money together on tour. But apparently, that wasn’t the case. And during a recent sit down with The Breakfast Club, she explained exactly what happened.
DJ Envy: When’s the last time you and the Floacist spoke?
Marsha: The very last day of last year’s reunion tour. We did two years, back to back, of a reunion. On my end it was absolutely to reconcile, forgive, bury the hatchet and clean slate everything with anticipation to possibly move on to further things. The first year that definitely didn’t work out. In good faith, I attempted another time, which was last year. And definitely didn’t work out again.
Why didn’t it work out?
I was looking at the other Breakfast Club interview that I did and that was prior to us reconciling again. And I’m looking at all the answers that I’m giving and I was really skirting around the truth. And the truth is, growing apart is real. And it just happens.
The last thing that was done on that second tour was umm…I found out that I was pregnant week one of that tour. I had no clue, we were just out on the road, did a couple shows in Oakland. Get to L.A. So it was right about show six, show seven and I was like ‘Wow I’m pregnant.’ It’s a high risk pregnancy as told my doctor so I’m already cautious. On a tour bus, there’s a tour bus etiquette anyway. If I’m vocally going for blood every night, as I did on that tour, I don’t really want any smoking on the bus. I don’t want any smoke on the bus anyway.
So I didn’t disclose that I was pregnant until the last week of the tour because I was so nervous and it was very, very early in the pregnancy. I was like 5-6 weeks when I found out. So by the end of the tour, it was like 10-11 weeks so I’m at that mark where I can tell people now. So I was throwing up on the first row of several crowds and backstage. Thought I was way drunk. At that point I had to disclose like, ‘Look guys I’m not wasted or anything. I’m pregnant.’ And I remember telling her and she said, ‘Oh I kind of figured that. I kind of figured it out on my own. I was like ok. ‘Thanks? You’re welcome?’
Charlamagne: She didn’t tell you congratulations or nothing?
Marsha: No. No. I left that at that. I’m like ‘Ok no congrats,’ I’ll leave that be. Eventually congratulations came into order. But then the last day of the tour, myself and my fiancé are on one side of the tour bus, her then manager—which he actually fired her— is sitting opposite me and umm…sniffs ‘What’s that smell? Wow, really?’ Smoking at the back of the bus.
And I was like that’s the nail in the coffin. That’s the closure I needed to affirm that you just won’t be able to get right with me. And that’s not to say that she’s reconciled in her own right whatever truths she’s holding, whatever it was for her. But I must be a trigger for whatever it was for her. So we’ll just never be good. We’ll never be cool because she’ll never be there for me, like a friend should be. I’m a loyal Leo to the very end so I was just expecting all love.
DJ Envy: You couldn’t just do it for business like groups like New Edition?
Marsha: I wish. But sometimes there isn’t a penny worth the bullshit. I did two tours back to back for fans.
Charlamagne: What happened the first year?
Marsha: Ah ha! Met my fiancé the first year. We didn’t know each other at all. He’d been employed by my management to take care of the other half of Floetry stuff. Cuz we were traveling separately. We hadn’t spoken in seven years so we we’re not going to travel together, we’re not going to force anything. So he was kind of taking care of her stuff. So granted, we hadn’t spoken in three weeks, me and my fiancé, and the band had this app called Zello. Remember Sprint chirp phones so when you used to send the message, it would come up on your phone as a voice note. So granted, we’re sitting there, his phone is on the table, we’re at a diner chucking it up and on the loud speaker, ‘Yo Dez you ain’t f*ck yet?’
So I’m like, ‘Um…no, please let it play. Cuz I’m a ball player first. I’ve done locker room talk I can handle that. Another band member chimes in, ‘You ain’t pop yet. You know she f*cked everybody in Philly.’
I’m like ‘Wow. My pussy is legendary.’ I’m trying to figure out all these Philly people I f*cked. And then another chimes in and it’s her. ‘Yeah Dez.’ I can’t make this up. And it’s messed up. She just co-signed. It didn’t even matter at that point, it was cosigning everyone else’s lies.
Once again, affirmation. If someone shows who they are, believe them, believe em, believe em, believe em every time. But then I had to get on stage with these people. I’m looking at these band members and I couldn’t hold them to fault. I’m supposed to be locker room talk. Guys are going to be guys so I can let that slide. But her? Nah, not so much. You don’t ride for me like that. So I still got on stage every night for the fan and did what I had to do. The best voice note on that app was like, ‘Wow Zello is gonna get somebody fired.’ It did.
Charlamagne: Was she this petty in ’06 when y’all broke up?
Marsha: Possibly. We both were in our own ways. But there were certain things that were happening that got out of hand. She was in a serious relationship and the guy was very, very off, abusive both verbally, emotionally. And it’s hard to watch your friend go through that sh*t. So if I’m your homie and I’m like ‘Yo, you need to get out.’ And she’s dang near suicidal, I can’t ride with you when you want actually jump off the edge of a cliff and then be guilt ridden into not jumping with you. So all of this was too loyal, loyal to a fault where it’s ‘Ok, don’t tell my parents. Don’t tell my friends. So I had to harbor on to all of that. It’s just baggage. The rumors that were flying around what was happening was better than what was going on. I can take people saying that we were lesbians. That’s absolutely not true. What was actually going on was way worse to me. I never wanted to say until none of that mattered anymore— because according to her, our manager was overzealous, he wanted me to go solo. At one point she said that he blacklisted her from the United States. She couldn’t work here anymore because she couldn’t get booked. At sometimes you have to acknowledge that you’re not getting booked. I lived in Philly for 17 years, the Roots have never booked me for the Roots Picnic. Sometimes you’re just not going to get booked and that’s ok. You have to get in where you fit in.
By the time the Floetry reunion came about, everyone had already picked sides. So it’s just like you just knew that you were never going to see me again. So all of the whispers, all of the over exaggerations of what the story is over here, there’s one over here too. There’s two sides to every story and then there’s facts. And what happened when I first met my fiancé and what happened on the tour bus are facts.
The tour was absolutely successful in its own right but it had to stop there and that was unfair. Her manager was so embarrassed. There’s no moving forward and there’s nothing that we can do. And at that point, especially being pregnant and having forgiven myself for the part that I played in all of it, and the fact that I attempted to reconcile twice, I only got blessed because of that. I wouldn’t have met fiancé if it wasn’t for that. I’m a wife to be and I have a baby now. When it came to the smoking on the bus and all the things said, it was enough. I don’t even want to see your face, I don’t want to hear your voice. I was nervous as hell. First time mother, I don’t want any negative energy whatsoever.
Her manager was someone I was involved with back in the UK. And back then, I’d gotten pregnant early. I was 21-22, right before I came out here. And she knew this. I ended up having a miscarriage. She knew this. And years later I would find out that she appointed him, of all people, as her manager. So me holding on to all of those thoughts and feelings, I was just like you are just the pettiest of all time. And learning years later, she would tell me, ‘I had a miscarriage too.’ And I had empathy for that. And years later, she would tell me she lied about that.
Charlamagne: Who is this woman?
Marsha: It’s not about who is this woman, it’s about…
DJ Envy: …why Floetry will never happen again.
Marsha: …So I’m not faulting anything that helped create the music.
Charlamagne: Anything else you need to get off your chest?
Marsha: Pray for her and wish her nothing but the best. And it’s ok to leave it at that.
Charlamagne: You tried it again with Amanda Seales…
Marsha: I spoke about this yesterday with Sway. Now, Amanda Seales, I want to say sorry to you. because I never…well I can’t say I never. But it was a lot of hands in that to make the situation what it was. You know I tried to fight her. I was going to fight her in Atlanta at the Ritz Carlton. She was getting frustrated. The other girl in Floetry had done an interview with Wendy Williams, saying that this was some temporary bullshit. So bullets fly and Amanda calls me in my hotel room and is like, ‘I’m sick of this sh*t. F*ck you.’ Hangs up on me. I had to respect it but I’m mad too. So I’m like, ‘Hold up.’ I called her hotel room, she picks up and I’m like, ‘You just said f*ck you and next door. We’re on the same damn floor!’ So I was banging on her door. We had to get on stage that night so her manager kind of had to diffuse the situation. I’ve never had to or wanted to confront someone to fight so it wasn’t even about her no more. It was about everything, the bullsh*t that was Floetry and the bullsh*t that it turned out to be because I was still signed to the label. And I’m so happy for everything she’s doing now, she’s a hustler.
You can watch the full interview with Marsha in the video below.
