The singer also spoke to ET about her decision to join the new season of 'The Surreal Life.'
Tamar Braxton has one warning for fans looking to check out the seventh season of The Surreal Life: "Baby, buckle up! It's gonna be a bumpy ride."
The 45-year-old singer is one of several stars featured in the new season of the reality series, which returns to the small screen after its original run from 2003-2006. The show famously was one of the first to feature "celeb-reality" and had stars living under one roof in a Los Angeles mansion.
Braxton is joined by Stormy Daniels, Dennis Rodman, Frankie Muniz, Kim Coles, Manny MUA, CJ Perry and August Alsina.
When looking back at her experience in the house -- which Braxton says she was in for about three weeks -- the singer shared with ET's Rachel Smith that she went into the show with the expectation that it would be similar to her previous experience on Celebrity Big Brother. The star emerged from the Celebrity Big Brother house as 2019's champion and expected to tackle The Surreal Life with a comparable attitude.
"I had no idea what I was getting myself into," Braxton admitted. "The only person that I met in passing was Dennis Rodman and I also met August Alsina in passing, but I never got the chance to get to know these people until I got into the house with them."
Having been a fan of the series during its original run, Braxton was excited to "relive something that I really used to enjoy as a kid." And, although she had different expectations for her reign, the singer shared that she let her guard down "real fast" and "started to have a good time instantly."
Instead of the intense competition against her housemates like on CBB, Braxton explained that she "resonated" most with the competition she faced within, working on "staying on my own path and making sure the surroundings [don’t] change my mind and how I want to become now."
Braxton, who has become a fierce mental health advocate after she was hospitalized in July 2020 amid a quiet battle with severe depression, noted that starring in The Surreal Life was different from her time on Braxton Family Values, which she has previously admitted took a toll on her mental health.
"I’m a prime example of you don’t have to stay where you are, you can put in a lot of hard work and challenge yourself and really make the decision to wanna be better and do better and I did that," she said. "So, I’m here from where I was from a year and a half, two years ago, just for the next person who feels like there isn’t a light at the end of the tunnel, here I am. There definitely is."
"This kind of reality television is completely different than having a docuseries about your life that you have absolutely no control over," Braxton continued. "When people start to paint you out to be something that you’re absolutely not, that can definitely weigh in on your mental health because then you start to question, 'Well, who am I? What am I doing and what kind of person are people receiving?' Which in my case was a totally different human than who I really, truly am."
She added, "So, for a show like this, I get to really show who I am, show a fun side that you’ve probably never seen before. I love to crack jokes and I’ll be a help to other people who are struggling with their mental health and so I’ve been able to help my roommates out a little bit with that."
The singer shared a moment she had with Rodman, whom she knew from his past relationship with her sister, Toni Braxton -- which the youngest of the Braxton clan cannot confirm or deny was romantic. Rodman was one of the housemates who the singer says she grew the closest to, including Alsina. The latter was a sweet "little brother-big sister" relationship that is novel for Braxton, as she's the youngest of six children.
"He’s an artist, he’s a gentleman [and] he’s a father," the mother of one said regarding Alsina. She noted that most people don't know "how deep he is" and, while she had many questions about his "entanglement" with Jada Pinkett Smith, the singers leaned on one another while in the house together.
As wild as the singer describes her experience in the Surreal mansion, the element she emphasized is how "eye-opening" the show will be for viewers. "You get a chance to know something about one of us that you didn’t already know," she teases.
The Surreal Life premieres Monday, Oct. 24 at 9 p.m. on VH1.
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