Toni Braxton has a few regrets.
The singer, who released her 10th studio album, Spell My Name, last week, spoke candidly to the Guardian about how her religious upbringing affected her behaviour as a young woman.
“I regret not having more sex when I was younger,” said Braxton, 52. “I should have drank more. I should have partied more. Smoked more, even. I think my religious upbringing stopped me doing a lot of things that I should have done.
“It’s not a good look at the age I am now,” she added.
“The way it works is you do that stuff in your 20s and 30s and then in your 40s you’ve earned enough to pay for the therapy.”
Braxton shared that her family was constantly searching for a spiritual connection, causing them to pursue a variety of religions throughout her childhood.
“When I was seven, my family became very religious,” said Braxton, explaining that the family became Jehovah’s Witnesses and Catholics before settling into the United Methodist Church.
“I asked my mom once what they were searching for and she just replied: ‘It was the ‘70s.’ The ‘70s were a very religious era. I think a lot of people were looking for the right path.”
These days, Braxton is as busy as ever. In addition to her new album, she’s the mother of two boys: Diezel and Denim, with her ex-husband Keri Lewis. In the Guardian piece, Braxton detailed how son Diezel has greatly progressed since being diagnosed with autism as a toddler.
“I wish autism wasn’t so misunderstood,” said Braxton. “My son was diagnosed with autism when he was 3 and I work with the charity Autism Speaks. I’m blessed. He’s in a regular school now. I always tell people that early diagnosis changes everything, but also that our babies just learn differently — that’s all.”
Braxton has also touched on the recent death of Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman at age 43. On her Instagram page, Braxton revealed that she had a strong connection with Boseman, and even used to sing one of her most famous songs over the phone to him because it was his favorite.
“Our makeup artists are friends and he used to get on the phone and ask me to sing ‘You Mean The World To Me’ because it was his favorite song of mine and now this song will be forever dedicated to him,” she wrote, captioning a black-and-white photo of the actor smiling for the camera.
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