Transcription
Now, I'm not one to gossip, but I will serve you the tea. You know what time it is. Welcome to Chronicle Speaks. Brandy is not holding back when it comes to her ex Wanya Morris. After nearly three decades, Wanya has continued to revisit their past relationship in interviews, but according to Brandy, the way he's been telling the story doesn't match her experience at all. Now, Brandy is speaking out making it clear she's not here for what she feels is a rewritten version of their history. She believes the narrative has been twisted over time and she's finally setting the record straight.
Now, Brandy has just written a memoir entitled Phases, and of course, we have our own copy over here. Now, this was just released yesterday and the book takes readers all the way back to her early beginnings in Mississippi, walking us through the rise to the fame as both a music and television star. From starring in Moesha to the iconic role in Cinderella, Brandy opens up about the highs that defined her career. Now, I bought it to see if she was finally going to fess up about the note that Whitney wrote her, but child, we weren't getting that.
What's making its way across the blogs right now is Brandy is finally opening up about this relationship with Wanya Morris and telling the story from her perspective for the first time. So, we are going to get into that part of the book and so much more, but before we do, please be sure to subscribe to this channel and hit the bell for notifications so you don't miss out on any news regarding this story and so much more. Now, let's get back into it.
So, you have some stories that you try to move on from and then you have ones that follow you for decades, and for Brandy, this is one of them. Because after nearly 30 years, she is finally opening up about her past relationship with Boyz II Men star Wanya Morris. And let's just say the version she's telling now sounds very different from the one we've heard before.
Now, if you've grown up in the '90s, you already know Brandy was that girl. Hit records, starring roles, and a career that was moving fast. Around the same time, she crossed paths with Wanya Morris and what started as a professional connection quickly turned into something more personal. But according to Brandy's new memoir, this wasn't some simple young love story. She says that she was just 16 years old while he was already in his early 20s. And while their relationship was kept out of the public eye for some time, behind the scenes, she describes being pulled into a situation she now looks back on very differently.
In her book, Brandy talks about sneaking around, lying to her parents, and trying to balance a secret relationship while still being a teenager navigating fame. She admits that at the time, she believed she was in love, but looking back now, she says that there were signs she didn't fully understand back then. Moments that made her feel unsure, confused, and even overlooked, but she pushed those feelings aside.
So, in the chapter entitled Brokenhearted, Brandy takes us all the way back to the very beginning and how this connection with Wanya Morris even started. Now, at the time, Brandy was just 15 years old and like many of us back then, she was a huge fan of Boyz II Men. In fact, Wanya was her favorite member. Now, she said one morning, her mother woke her up with some amazing news. Wanya was on the phone. Now, imagine being 15 years old and your celebrity crush is calling your house and your mother gives you the phone and this man is 21 years old. Now, of course, she's excited and her mom was right there standing by the door smiling, just as thrilled for her daughter as Brandy was for herself.
Now, during that call, Wanya congratulated her on the success of the single I Wanna Be Down, even joking that her song had knocked Boyz II Men I'll Make Love to You off the R&B charts. Then, Wanya says the words that completely knocked Brandy off of her feet. He says, "I want to meet you." She could hardly believe what she was hearing, so a meet-up gets arranged at a family member's house where people would gather for kickback. And when the day comes, not only does Wanya actually show up, but Brandy's circle is there, too. Even her boyfriend Anthony, Ray J, and others.
Now, from that moment on, the calls continued. He started checking in on her, giving her industry advice, guiding her through a business she was still trying to understand, and over time, they became close. Now, fast forward about five months, Brandy's debut album drops and her career is taking off. And her life is shifting, too. Her boyfriend Anthony becomes distant, ends up being unfaithful, and their relationship falls apart. Now, Brandy said she was saving herself for him, but obviously, he wasn't doing the same. Now, Brandy said she had been trying to do things the right way, but that situation left her hurt.
Then comes her sweet 16. So, for this birthday, she has a huge party at the Hard Rock Cafe. She has family, friends, celebrities, it's a celebration. Everything you'd expect. But at midnight, something unexpected happens. Her parents and Ray J pull her away to a more private area and suddenly, she hears a familiar voice. "Tonight is a special evening. Tonight is Brandy's birthday." She turns around and it's Wanya. Not just him, but the entire group. It's Boyz II Men. They sing to her, they celebrate her, and Wanya publicly praises her, calling her one of the baddest singers in the '90s. Brandy describes that moment as feeling like an anointing, like validation she had been searching for. And from then on, things got deeper.
Later that night, he called her again and this time asking her to join Boyz II Men on their spring tour. She, of course, says yes, but before the tour even started, they'd already been talking regularly, and in her words, he felt like the only person who truly understood what she was going through in the industry. Then comes the first night of the tour. She's nervous, she's clammy, she's overwhelmed, and he shows up backstage with flowers in hand, calming her down and encouraging her and telling her that she's going to be able to get through it. Even telling her that he listened to her entire album on the plane ride and he absolutely loved it.
Then, all of the butterflies went away. He said, "You know, we should do something together. You know, your song Brokenhearted, I think it would sound good with me on it. Let's do a duet. Let's do a remix." Brandy can't believe her ears, but she's down for it. Next thing you know, it's time for her to take to the stage. So, Brandy gets on stage and she starts singing. She looks over to the corner and she sees Wanya looking at her. He throws up the thumbs up, pretty much letting her know that she's doing well. He goes on to go with his group. So, when they go to the Philadelphia stop of the tour, she ends up going to the Boyz II Men studio and they re-record Brokenhearted. He says, "This is a smash. Thank you for believing in me."
Now, here's where people start to begin questioning the entire situation. Because while all of this is unfolding, Brandy is still very young. She's 16 at the moment navigating fame, relationships, and adult situations all at once. And it raises a bigger conversation, not just about Wanya, but about the environment around her. Because when you hear this timeline, it makes you wonder, who was the adult guiding her through these moments? Not Wanya. Who was the person that was supposed to be there that loves her? Her mother, her father, aunt, uncle, anybody. Who was setting boundaries? Who was making sure that she was protected in an industry that can move very fast.
Now, to be fair, Brandy speaks about her family with love and support, but looking back at these moments through today's lens, it does leave some type of question as to how much oversight there might have been during this time. And that's not about blame, it's about understanding just how complex this situation really was. They can blame this on Wanya all day long, but when you leave meat there for the vultures, what you think going to happen? You gave your daughter rope and she hung herself with it, and now y'all blaming Wanya.
Now, let's continue. Now, after they re-recorded Brokenhearted, she said that the interactions with Wanya felt magical. From the way he looked at her to the way he embraced her. During long stretches on the tour bus, she would drift off into daydreams, replaying his laughs in her mind, and wondering what it would feel like to be even closer to him. She says that her journal quickly filled up with thoughts and she didn't fully understand them at the time.
Now, by the time they filmed the Brokenhearted video, that unspoken tension between them had only grown stronger. Like they were trying to keep their distance, yet constantly being pulled back towards each other. And the attraction, she explains, wasn't loud or obvious, but it was always there, lingering in the pauses, sitting in the air between them, and yet, there was still something else that she couldn't ignore. She recalls him repeatedly reminding her, "My girlfriend is 16." A statement that seemed to hang between them, unclear whether it meant to set a boundary or ease his own conscience. But at the age of 16, Brandy says that she believed she was in love, or at least what she understood love to be at that age. Something that, looking back now, may have been shaped more by his perspective than her own. She feels that he weaponized her admiration, shaped her friendship into dependence, and her respect into desire, and she felt swept into a current she couldn't control.
Now, Brandy reflects on this next part of her life with a mix of awareness and emotion. She admits that deep down inside, she knew that the situation with Wanya wasn't right, but at the same time, she believed that what they had was real, something she felt others just wouldn't understand. Now, because he was older and more experienced, she said she often followed his lead, trusting his direction in a situation she was still trying to make sense of. She even shares that she believed becoming intimate with him would strengthen their bond despite initially wanting to wait until marriage. But when the moment finally happened, it didn't feel the way that she imagined. Instead of being something tender and meaningful, she described it as underwhelming. She figured with this man singing songs like I'll make love to you, he'd just that. She said that it was nothing of the sort. She truly felt that she wasn't special but rather something to pursue or to obtain. She said that he wanted to conquer her. She said she felt like she was getting in over her head and one day her parents confronted her in the living room and was like, "What's going on with you and Wanya?" She said she told him, "It's nothing, just a friendship, just music."
Now time moves on, Brandy moves from 16 to 17 to 18 and she said her mom approached her one afternoon and her voice was very low and she was like, "Are you willing to sacrifice your dreams for Wanya?" She was like, "Mama, I love him." She finally admitted the truth and Mama Norwood like, "You're not in love. You don't even know what love is. You'll see for yourself." Sure enough, she was about to.
So I'm going to read this passage. Brandy said, "I lacked vocabulary then for what I was experiencing. Then suffocating of existence between the young woman I was becoming and the brand I was building. I rejected the premise that I had to choose between professional fulfillment and emotional connection. I simply wanted to experience my feelings without apology or justification. Whatever existed between he and I, it felt real. I genuinely believed it was true love."
So Brandy is chilling at Wanya's apartment, they're eating some Thai takeout food and they hear Soon As I Get Home by Faith Evans. And he was like, "Do you hear that?" She's like, "Yeah, I love this song." So she's humming it and he said, "Okay, let's stop it right there." And he pauses it right before the bridge and he said, "Why don't you sing like that?" Brandy says he hit a nerve because she revealed that she already had insecurities about her voice and instead of building her up, moments like this made her question herself even more. Now she notes that they listen to music together all the time but this type of critique hadn't happened before and after that, it didn't stop. According to Brandy, the comments became more frequent, more pointed and left her feeling diminished. Looking back, she believes that those remarks may have been intentional creating insecurity so she would seek validation ultimately giving him more control in the dynamic while her confidence slowly took a hit.
Then comes a time where she's riding down the street in her car and he's riding in his car. She sees a passenger on his side and it's a female that happens to be his assistant. He's playing and rubbing his hands through the assistant's hair. They're at the red light but they don't see Brandy. The light turns green, she takes off in anger. So later that day, she asked him, "Are you with her?" >> [music] >> He was like, "No, but I got a couple of other people I've been messing with." She was like, "What the hell? This man has pursued me. He's been with me since I was 16 and he's cheated on me. I've dealt with infidelity at 16, 17 and 18."
Now one part that myself and others were hoping that Brandy would dig deeper into is the situation involving Adina Howard because while Brandy does open up about her relationship with Wanya Morris, she doesn't really dive into what many have described over the years as a possible love triangle. Now y'all remember Adina, Miss T-shirt and panties, Miss freak all through the night. Well Adina and Brandy were actually labelmates and so Brandy's relationship with Wanya was actually overlapped when Adina started dating him as well. When you meet Adina, it's on and popping. Now Adina still has good knees in her 50s so ain't no telling what was happening in the early 90s. Somebody like her take your man, you just bow out gracefully. It's nothing more you can do, ladies. Thank you for your services. So there's two female labelmates now fighting over this one R&B dude.
Now the label executive Sylvia Rhone heard about it and basically let Adina know, "We're trying to put out your second album. Leave this guy alone. Let's focus on you." So Adina went on the radio and she talked to Wendy Williams and let's just say she didn't hold back. She came in poised, well-dressed, calm but make no mistake, she came in to clear the air. Now during that interview, Adina spoke openly about her connection to Wanya Morris and even suggested that there was an overlap that while Brandy was involved with him, she was too. Not only did she have harsh words for Brandy but she had harsh words for Sylvia Rhone as well. Adina had to know that this interview with Wendy would be huge and honestly going at a label exec would be career suicide. I said something very inappropriate about the head of the label and she pulled up the emergency brake, shut everything down. Adina's second album was shelved, she was cut from her label and it seemed like she was not able to find the same success that she had with her first album since. They said that Brandy's mom was also upset about Adina putting Brandy's information on blast and like I said, Adina did not have that same success since. She's been blackballed.
Brandy said that she realized that none of what she experienced with Wanya was love and she's tired of him getting on the internet talking junk about what they had or didn't have for lack of better words. >> [laughter] >> BRANDY EVEN SAID IN HER BEHIND THE MUSIC that she that you broke her heart cuz you fell in love with somebody else. I mean, you only fall in love with somebody you only fall out of love with somebody else if somebody makes you fall out of love. Mhm. You know, so if that was the situation, is that what she if that's what she said, then >> That's political. I like that. >> I can't, you know, I can't contest to her view about it. I can just only live by my view. Revolt. Revolt. They they were they were saying she was really young when y'all dated. >> Yeah, she was. Not not that young. Not not THAT YOUNG. >> [laughter] >> THAT'S WHY THAT'S WHY I STOPPED >> [laughter] >> HOLD ON BUT THAT'S WHY I STOPPED IT AND SAID THAT she she wasn't that young cuz I don't want y'all to think Boyz II Men was we no. >> [laughter] >> I was young too. She said she was 15 and she had to keep it a secret cuz she was so young. >> No no see see we we we did the thing we did the thing when she was like 16, 17 around that time, you know. You was So you was still a boy I wasn't too I wasn't I wasn't like 38 years old nothing like that. I was old enough to she was old enough to get it. Okay. >> [laughter] >> But was it legal in the state y'all was in? Is the I mean, we was always IN DIFFERENT STATES. >> [laughter] [laughter] >> THEY HAD A NOMAD RELATIONSHIP. >> WE JUST YOU KNOW, we we didn't do it in the states that it was legal it was illegal in. Nice. Got you. >> [laughter] >> Nice. Did I Should I Should I just >> Tell them the story. I'm going to tell the story. He likes stuff like this especially when people don't have any idea. Okay? >> Okay. So check this out. Brandy and I were friends in the beginning. Um her mother um and reached out to me as well as my manager reached out to Brandy because Brandy was a big fan of of mine. And um I was you know, I was like, "Wow, that's amazing because this this young lady was pretty cool." Now I'm I'm I'm a young dude at the time. I wasn't 30 nothing. You know what I'm saying? So don't don't get it twisted. Hold on one second. Can Can we keep it down cuz I can't I can't have. All right. So um what happened is we actually you know, she became kind of like my little protege. You know what I'm mean? Um the actually the one that introduced her to Bebe Spears and and Ralph Fouquoa. They came to us to actually do a TV show on the UPN network and um I said, "Well, you know, Brandy's the on the hallway and you know, she's basically she was on Okay, cool. Introduced her to that. The the show came to fruition. My mom and I wrote the the theme song to The Brandy Show. So Brandy and I were really really close. Once she turned of age, we had been hanging around each other so much we'd been hanging around each other so much that there became to be some sort of connection, an intimate connection. We actually fell in love. Now we were young. That's what happens. You're young and you fall in love. You know what I'm saying? Especially when you have the ability to be around somebody a lot, you begin to know things about them. You know what I mean? And they know things about you. Now when you're young, you make decisions based on your youth. You know what I'm saying? You don't make decisions moral decisions that put you in the whole position where you know that this is what's going to be for the rest of your life. You're learning through everything. And Brandy and I learned through a lot. When it came time for Brandy to go on her prom, she was my girlfriend. Um Kobe Bryant Kobe Bryant was in was was graduating from high school that year. Brandy was my girlfriend. She had just graduated from Pepperdine and her mom and I, we both made it so that Brandy was effort was able to go on tour I mean on on the prom with Kobe Bryant. Okay. When it came time for Brandy to introduce herself to the world, I'm the one that actually put her on the Boyz II Men tour. Okay? So she was with me. You know, she was my friend and we became intimate as in a relationship. There's no lie going on here. You can ask Brandy, she will tell you the same story. Relax on what you think because I know because I lived it and so did Brandy. As time progressed, we grew out of each other. Yes, it was a hurtful thing. It was a hurtful thing to break up. That's what happens. You're in a relationship and then you break up. She grew out of me and I grew out of her. I might have grown out of her a little bit faster, but you know, it's a relationship. You're young and you make decisions. Next thing you know, that's what it is. Brandy's successful, Boyz II Men are successful, and we're happy. You know >> [laughter] >> what I'm saying? This This is what it is. We are happy. So, whoever is there saying, you know, all kinds of crazy stuff like they know, you know what I mean? Regardless of anything, my age, her mother was definitely, you know, a a part of our relationship a very Her mother and father was a part of our relationship. They allowed me to to guide Brandy and to help her through her career. They understood that we had grown close and that's what it was. You know what I'm saying? So, understand that that you know for a fact, whoever it is on there, that life happens. That's just what it is. So, now you have your answer and you have your understanding. If you care to listen, you care to believe it, I don't care. I know the truth and everybody else does, too. All right. So, now let's move on to the next contestant.
Brandy says, "The shame I have carried over this relationship ends here, buried in these pages like ashes scattered to the wind. I have grown more resentful at his insistence on reframing that time, his continued attempts to rewrite history with himself as the misunderstood romantic lead rather than the adult man he was, his refusal to acknowledge what I believe he did, to take responsibility for the power I feel he wielded and abused feels like its own form of continued abuse. Over the years, I've seen him talk about our relationship in interviews and on social media, spinning tales that grow more elaborate with each telling. He's so convinced of the version he told himself, but somehow can't keep his story straight. The details shifting like sand depending on his audience, his mood, and his need for sympathy or admiration. I was not a fast girl with the crush. I was not a dramatic teenager who couldn't handle rejection. I was not an unstable obsessive fan. I was a child. He was an adult, and it's time the world understood the difference. I just want to know where was the parents at? This girl was doing a lot of stuff without being watched. Where was the parents? Anyway, what I need to do is hear from you. What do you think about everything going on with Brandy's book, Phases? Have you read it? Are you going to buy it? Leave a comment and you know how we do. We'll talk about it down below. Talk to you guys later. Bye. As always, thanks for watching, but before you go, don't forget to subscribe to this channel, hit the like button, and hit the bell so you don't miss out on any of my new episodes.