The star is back on TV with her new VH1 series, 'To Catch a Beautician,' and living her best life with her new man and new music.
Tamar Braxton got her life. Now, she's got her dream job.
The "Crazy Kind of Love" singer is back on TV with VH1's To Catch a Beautician, a new beauty series in which she and celebrity hairstylist Johnny Wright help everyday people who have been wronged by their stylists by giving those stylists a second chance to make it right.
"[This is the] project that I'm most proud of," Tamar gushes to ET on video chat. "The show just morphed into my favorite thing to do: talk about hair, talk about people’s problems and try to help them fix it."
Tamar, who serves as host and de facto therapist on the series, says she's had her own fair share of hair catastrophes over the years thanks to her years experimenting with her look. About two years ago, she made her most drastic hair change ever, shaving it all off.
"I really liked that kind of independence, you know what I mean? This is all me, accept me," she recalls. "I kind of want to go back to it."
Tamar's big chop came at a pivotal moment in her life, just after filing for divorce from her husband of nearly a decade, Vincent Herbert, in 2017. In the three years since, Tamar says she's really discovered who she is, as a woman, mother and artist.
"I'm one of those women, just like all of the women in America that I run into," she shares, "we never give up. We do whatever it takes, especially when you're thrown into a position where you're a single mom. It's like, everything is hard, but nothing is too hard. We figure it out and so, I'm just really happy to be a part of that women empowerment and that crew -- not even just women anymore, it's men, too, that's thrown in that position -- and it just goes to show you how resilient we all are, and when we have to figure it all out, we figure it out."
Tamar admits it was hard at first, especially figuring out her new dynamic with Vince, as they navigated co-parenting their son, Logan, who turns seven in June. It took the couple, who were together for seven years before they married, nearly two years to finalize their divorce.
"[It's] not even just that, it’s all the years of trying to figure out where we fit, right? Because for 16 years, we've been together and been best friends, and I think what we had to revert back to is, remembering that we were friends first," she says, "and it took a little while, especially, you know, with [my boyfriend, David Adefeso], in the mix of things. But we're in a really, really good place. We realized it's not about us. It's not about our feelings. It's not about what happened. It's about Logan, and it's about us setting the best example for him and being there for him. So, that's the choice we made. You have to make that choice, though."
Tamar and Vince put Logan into counseling as soon as they split, something Tamar says she wishes she had access to when her parents divorced. It was actually the counselor who pushed Tamar and Vince to really evaluate the state of things in the wake of their divorce.
"The counselor was like, 'You guys might want to get along for your kid,' and then that is when we made the decision," she says, "it's about him and not about us."
Today, Tamar says Logan is thriving as he splits time between her home and Vince's home, even in quarantine.
"So, I found out I'm raising myself," Tamar offers, with a laugh. "Logan is the male version of me, which I shouldn't be surprised, but I am surprised. He has a huge personality. He's hilarious. He's really, really smart and he's, like, the greatest -- am I saying this about myself? No, he's the greatest kid ever. He's just so cool. He's the only child, so he looks to me to play all the time and that's a lot, but I think we split time between Sonic the Hedgehog and Real Housewives of Atlanta."
For years, Tamar was adamant that she was "one and done" when it came to kids. Her tune has since changed, though, thanks in part to her new love, David, whom she calls "Chocolate."
"Little Chocolate might have been the person who egged that on," she confesses, "but I think after the whole divorce stuff, I just felt like I didn't want Logan to be by himself. Like, we got together when we were young, me and my sisters, and talked about our parents behind their backs and he needs somebody to do that with, and bounce ideas off of."
"I'm crossing my fingers hoping I'll get lucky," she adds. "I really, really want more kids. Being in this quarantine reminded me how lonely my son is."
Tamar, Logan and David are all isolating together in Los Angeles, and Tamar says all that together time has shown her that David, a financial adviser, really is "the one."
"I think quarantine has tested everyone’s relationship. I've gotten extremely petty about cleaning the kitchen and who did it last," she jokes. "One dish would break up this whole house, right?"
"But we really have gotten closer, to be honest," she continues. "We've had a chance to talk about things that we wouldn't normally have time to talk about, and see things that we wouldn't normally see, because we haven't spent this much time together and I have to say, he's not just Chocolate. He's a great guy."
There's still no ring on Tamar’s finger, but it is something she's been thinking about, though she's not necessarily into the idea of a proposal during quarantine.
"That wouldn't be my ideal, but I'll take whatever we can get," she quips. "[We] gotta give him a little nudge and help him out a little bit. David's been single for forever, he's never been married, and so for him to find love, he's pretty crawling, but he better hurry up!"
Tamar is currently filming parts of To Catch a Beautician from home (she's got a green screen in her living room!), as well as working on the next season of her family's WE tv series, Braxton Family Values.
"We get together and Zoom and FaceTime all the time, and that’s been pretty fun," she says of spending time, virtually, with her sisters. "I haven't seen my mom in three months and that’s been really, really tough."
Tamar has been able to see her family a few times in person during this strange time, but notes she can't get too close to her big sister, Toni, because of the GRAMMY winner's battle with Lupus, which makes her high risk for COVID-19. Still, she's been able to virtual tease her by taking part in the #ToniBraxtonChallenge on Instagram, imitating Toni's signature singing style.
"We've really had a good time and, you know, getting closer and talking about things that need to be talked about probably before we start filming again," she adds. It's a nice change of pace for the family, who in recent seasons has been in a contentious place. In 2018, most of the sisters went on strike from the series, a strike they broke only after a heated family therapy session with Iyanla Vanzant. Tamar hopes the pandemic continues to put things into perspective for her and her sisters; she’s interested in keeping things positive on the show.
"I'm hoping that -- keep our fingers crossed -- that the cameras catch us at a time when everything is going great for us," she says. "I don't wanna argue with anyone but the devil, and I don't want any drama, you know? I’ve been living my best life. I'm eating my weight and I'm having fun with my boyfriend and great time with my kid and I have absolutely no worries. And I have this amazing show on VH1, which is a dream job for me! A dream situation! And I have just been in a really happy, good place."
That "really happy, good place" is also inspiring new music. Tamar dropped her first single in years, "Crazy Kind of Love," a reimagined version of Whitney Houston's classic, "Saving All My Love for You," in March.
"I fell in love with music [again], and now I'm over here, like, twiddling my thumbs really missing it," she says of having the creative itch in quarantine. "[I'm] having meetings with the producers and [thinking about], what is my next sound gonna be, and what's my next look gonna be and I'm just so inspired and so excited."
Tamar hasn't been able to record any new material in quarantine, but teases that she completed a few records before the shutdown. She might save those songs up for a new album, something she never thought she'd release again. When she dropped her last LP, Bluebird of Happiness, in 2017, she proclaimed it would be her final album, but she's since changed her mind.
"At that time, I was really going through a lot," she now admits. "A lot of people didn't know that Vince and I were breaking up, and it wasn't a good time for either of us, individually, and then the business aspect of it all changed, because he was my manager in all of this; and so, it was just a big turnoff for me. And now that I've fallen back in love with music, it's like I've fallen back in love with the whole situation of it all."
That includes wanting to tour and perform live again, dreams that will likely have to wait until 2021. Tamar also still has her own talk show on her vision board; she's been eager to return to daytime since her exit from The Real in 2016; she even reportedly had a production deal with Steve Harvey’s company at one point.
"It's still a dream of mine," she says. "I think that now a couple of situations for me have changed, that door is a possibility and I'm really grateful about that."
In the meantime, Tamartians (aka her fans) can catch Tamar on To Catch a Beautician, airing Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on VH1. Get a first look at the series below:
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