Houghton also revealed to ET about her new upcoming live album.
It's been almost two decades since 3LW disbanded, but a recent outing between Adrienne Houghton and Naturi Naughton fueled rumors that the band may possibly get back together. Now, the 38-year-old former The Real host is setting the record straight while shedding light on what sparked the mini reunion and (surprise!) spilling the tea on a new upcoming album.
While chatting with ET's Deidre Behar, the former Cheetah Girls star was asked if there was something in the works on getting the band back together. Houghton, Naughton and Kiely Williams are the original members who earned stardom in the early 2000s before splitting up in 2008 due to their careers forging separate paths, not to mention some internal conflict.
Since then, Houghton and Naughton publicly mended their fraught relationship during a May 2017 episode on The Real, in which Houghton issued a heartfelt apology. It wasn't Naughton's first time on the since-canceled daytime talk show, but they had previously never addressed the elephant in the room. Fast forward to June 1, and fans went into a frenzy after Houghton posted a picture alongside Naughton and captioned it, "#2LW 😜 #LetTheHealingBegin."
Suffice it to say, fans wondered if this was the start of a possible reunion. Well, not really.
"There is nothing set," Houghton tells ET. "There is no reunion set. There's nothing like that set up, but I think the most important thing is like, not music, but like, the real life is good. Does that make sense?"
Yes, makes total sense considering how Houghton and Naughton's careers have blown up since leaving 3LW. But as far as a reunion goes, Houghton's not shutting the door completely.
"I mean, I would never say never," she says.
As far as how her and Naughton's outing came about, Houghton says it had everything to do with logistics lining up, noting that Naughton found out she had moved back to New York and they decided to go out for dinner.
"And that's what that was, and she was like, 'Let's take a pic' and I was like, 'Yeah,'" Houghton says. "I think that even the hashtag, 'Let the healing begin,' I think that that's key. I think that so many of us have had experiences in our lives that are just like, 'Wait, what was all that about?' And you let them go but at the same time you almost want to revisit them when you get older, to actually be like, 'What was that?' and move forward. And I think that's where we're at."
Houghton, who has recently teamed up with Adobe Acrobat to seamlessly streamline her personal and professional life, says breaking bread and strolling down memory lane was sort of therapeutic.
"I think our youth and our childhood and the experience of being in 3LW for sure is something that we both have to heal individually from and come together and heal what honestly was a dope, beautiful friendship and rekindle that," Houghton shares. "There are things that her and I will share forever that no one will ever know or understand, and that's just the truth of it."
Houghton is finally catching her breath after eight seasons on The Real. She's fond of her time on the six-time Emmy-winning talk show, but any kind of revival talk of the show would come with some caveats.
"It would have to be revived in a way that still allows me to have a life in New York," she says. "We've talked about family planning and my dreams of becoming a mother. I think that it would have to work in those parameters, for sure."
Moreover, Houghton expressed how she's looking forward to seeing the next generation of talk show hosts.
"I think now, with the show coming to an end, Jeannie [Mai] and I were just talking about the fact that like, we can't let the concept of the show die, does that make sense?" she mused. "We're super excited for the next, like, who's gonna be the next to do it? Who are gonna be the next faces of day time television that are representing for women in color?"
As for what The Real 2.0 would look like, Houghton doubles down, insisting, "I would love to see new faces! I'm like, the new format would not be with me!"
In the meantime, Houghton's been busy making music alongside her husband, singer Israel Houghton, and his band, New Breed. The musicians recently returned from Camp New Breed, which Houghton describes as a summer camp experience for adults on a quest for a fellowship connection. While helming that "passion project,' Houghton tells ET exclusively they're releasing a live album featuring their jam sessions from camp, which will drop in August.
There will be a live album from Camp New Breed," she reveals. "It does have a name [but] I'm going to hold that in. But we're super excited." Just moments after making the new album announcement, Houghton couldn't contain her joy, and wound up sharing the album title:Worship Anywhere.
"It's called Worship Anywhere, because literally, we were in the forrest worshipping, we were down the waterslide praising the lord, we were in the cafeteria making drum beats on the table," she says, laughing. "We created something really special. Me and my sister are singing together on this project, there are more songs that I sing in Spanish on there. I just feel like this has been the outlet where I feel comfortable singing, and it's been really special."
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