



The official blog for singer, writer, director and human rights advocate Aisha and her affiliated web sites.
New Financial Woes
T-Boz
T-Boz, real name Tionne Watkins, of the best selling girl band in music history, TLC, has filed for bankruptcy again. The first time Watkins filed for bankruptcy, utilizing Chapter 11, was in 1995 with her fellow band members in TLC. This time she is filing for herself.
T-Boz
After TLC’s alleged $20,000,000 settlement with their label LaFace Records in 1996, the band split the money three ways, paid taxes on it and regrouped, leading people to believe the group’s finances were in order. However, Watkins took on significant debt at a time the group was still doing well, before one of its members, Lisa Lopes died and the trio disbanded.
T-Boz
As the Judiciary Report reported months ago, one of Watkins’ Atlanta homes was in foreclosure. A second home, a well decorated property she lives in, which is located in the Sugarloaf Country Club, is for sale as well, due to financial troubles.
TLC's Chilli and T-Boz
However, the house has not sold after being on the market for over a year. Then again, most homes in America are not selling, due to the foreclosure crisis, but that’s another story. This has saddled Watkins with a large mortgage, which based on what she states she currently owes on the property, her monthly payment is between $7,000 to $10,000, in addition to real estate taxes, country club dues and upkeep fees.
TLC
Watkins, who was married to rapper Mack-10, previously stated, he took out mortgages in her name and one was for the property that slipped into foreclosure. It is also being reported, he owes her $250,000 in child support. He has not been doing much work in the entertainment industry, to repay said figure. Watkins left the marriage due to domestic violence.
TLC
Watkins also has another problem. Due to sickle cell anemia and a brain tumor that was removed by a top surgeon, she has paid a lot of money in medical bills. I did wonder how she could get medical insurance in the current system, with all of the preexisting, significant health problems she has battled over the years. It can’t be easy. She must have paid many of the bills herself or a very high insurance premium.
Toni Braxton
The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), which is the organization that awards singer with Grammys, has made an appearance in singer Toni Braxton's bankruptcy case, out of concern the six awards she has won during her 20-year music career could be seized and auctioned, to satisfy her many debts.
Braxton fell seriously ill with breast cancer, lupus and angina, which made her unable to work for a time. As a result, Braxton fell behind on credit card payments to high end retailers and other financial obligations. Due to the fact she did not disclose the full extent of her health problems, the insurer that underwrote her Las Vegas performance policy, did not pay the $10,000,000 guarantee in the event her stage run abruptly ended.
Braxton's financial woes grabbed unflattering headlines last year, when she filed for bankruptcy, the second time in a decade, prompting claims she is a spendthrift not in charge of her financial affairs. Braxton's latest Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing, already saw her reluctantly relinquish her million dollar mansion in Atlanta, Georgia's Sugarloaf Country Club. The legal documents also list her Grammy awards among her possessions.
It's all good and fine that they made an appearance in the case, in an attempt to protect their brand. However, the Grammys are a complete farce now, when a screamer singer like Beyonce Knowles, among others, can criminally commit wholesale theft of valuable copyrights worth many millions and win more Grammy awards than Aretha Franklin, in one fifth the time. It says the organization's credibility is gone.
You are giving out Grammys like candy to people that did not earn them, which has taken the prestige and heft from your awards. I also have it on good authority, though you do not want the Grammy awards sold to non-recipients, the voting process can be bought to rig a desired outcome on behalf of artists that did not earn it. The aforementioned two problems, which will mushroom into a forthcoming scandal, when specific details are brought to light before the public, are the real issues the Grammys need to be focused on.
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Toni Braxton Files For Bankruptcy Again
Toni Braxton
In 2010, Grammy Award winning singer, Toni Braxton, filed for bankruptcy - the second time in a decade. In 2010, Braxton lost her $2,400,000 Las Vegas home to foreclosure. She also gave up her primary residence, a 7 bedroom, 7 bathroom, $1,500,000 Duluth mansion, set in the Sugarloaf Country Club.
Braxton initially fought to keep the attractive, sprawling home. However, her creditors forced foreclosure, but due to the property having negative equity, Braxton was advised not to challenge it. She ended up surrendering the property, in what had to be a very difficult blow.
Braxton's former home in Duluth, lost to foreclosure
In the 1990s, LaFace Records, gave Braxton a reported settlement of $20,000,000 as apart of a renegotiation fee on her recording contract, after the bad publicity from her first bankruptcy. Label mates, TLC, were reportedly given the same, as they too had filed bankruptcy.
Braxton's former home in Las Vegas, gone to foreclosure
In 2006, Braxton signed a lucrative Las Vegas performance deal with the Flamingo hotel, but fell ill a year and a half into the multi-million dollar run. This is where her troubles began, as she'd taken on new debts and insurers refused to pay when she became ill, stating she hid her medical condition from them, which is a violation of the performer's policy. Braxton is battling lupus, angina and breast cancer.
Braxton's Las Vegas show was cancelled due to illness
It is regrettable that Braxton did not buy a home outright, when she had cash surpluses, rather than obtaining mortgages, as she would not have lost her main residence, which was clearly distressing. She is also older now, 43, with her health problems impacting her appearance. There also exists a pathetic ageism in the vain entertainment industry.
Braxton Family Values
However, with the success of her reality show "Braxton Family Values" that has brought in a moderate amount of money, with residuals and DVD sales to come, will Braxton get back in the black. That depends. Her 2010 bankruptcy filing was filed with debts to luxury retailers and establishments, such as Tiffany's, BMW, Neiman Marcus and the Four Seasons.
Braxton's spending would have to drastically change, in order to rebuild her finances from the ground up and maintain a solid financial profile. Her health is also a factor, which should indicate to her to save up for a rainy day.
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The Foreclosure Edition
Lisa Wu-Hartwell
Lisa Wu Hartwell of the Real Housewives of Atlanta stated she and her family were not "booted" from their foreclosed $3,000,000 mansion, as some reported. Since TMZ didn't use said wording when they reported the story and sites like this one did, I'll assume that was lobbed in this direction.
I wasn't trying to hurt her feelings, but I was stating it in legal terms, as when a home is repossessed via foreclosure and auctioned by the bank, that second step means the family has been "booted" from the property. It is a legal formality.
Otherwise, after vacating the premises, weeks or months down the road, the family could decide to move back in again.
The legal language of foreclosures with regard to the property actually being auctioned, mandates that it is clearly stipulated, the borrower in default has been put out, to facilitate the sale of said house to satisfy the debt. Therefore, anyone saying otherwise is pure semantics.
However, I will state, it is great the Hartwells were able to move into another property they "own" after "downsizing" as many Americans did not get that opportunity in the current, ongoing mortgage crisis.
The only property repossessions this Column would toast is that of ponzi schemers and other thieves, defrauding innocent victims.
Side Bar: Atlanta female stars gets testy when you write about their finances.
Lisa Wu Hartwell Rebuffs Reports Her Family Was Booted From Their Home
POSTED: AUGUST 11, 2009 - The economy is affecting everyone, even some of our favorite reality starlets. Recently, reports surfaced that "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" star Lisa Wu Hartwell and her footballer hubby Ed Hartwell were allegedly booted from their multimillion dollar Duluth, Georgia, mansion, after the bank allegedly foreclosed on the crib and sold it.
However, Lisa Wu Hartwell says that's the furthest thing from the truth. "People read and believe what they want," Hartwell, 38, told ESSENCE.com exclusively after landing in Atlanta from Baltimore where she had a speaking engagement. "Ed and I are doing fine and our children are fine."
Still, the petite beauty wants to make it clear that the Hartwells are no different from anyone else who had to make smart, cost-efficient lifestyle change like many Americans who have been affected by the recession. "We are not ignorant about the state of the economy, but we chose to move, we were not evicted. We've been settled in our home for two months now and we've owned it for five years, as well as other properties. We planned to build on that 10 acres of land and sell the property, but decided against it when the market went bad and I'm glad we didn't. It's just quite silly that there are reports that we were put out as if it weren't our decision to relocate. Our decision to downsize is what I call being [financially] responsible."
"RHOA" costars Nene Leakes and Sheree Whitfield have also moved after dealing with foreclosed properties.—KNB
The Foreclosure Edition
Another star of Bravo’s “The Real Housewives Of Atlanta” has lost her home. Previously, NeNe Leakes was evicted from her rented home in the Sugarloaf Country Club in Duluth, Georgia, also home to Michael Vick and previously T-Boz of the girl group TLC.
Sheree Whitfield, was the next housewife from the show, forced out of her property, due to a foreclosure on her marital home, valued at the $3,000,000, because her husband stopped making the mortgage payments. The property was auctioned by the bank for $900,000.
Now, Lisa Wu Hartwell has lost her $3,000,000 home she shared with husband, football player, Edgerton Hartwell. The couple tried to have the mortgage modified with no success. They have since moved to a new property, after the bank evicted them for non-payment.
There is a lesson to be learned from all of this. The show advertises hedonism, avarice and excessive consumption as the way to live, when it's not. On the show, they worship money, which is destructive.
There is nothing wrong with working hard to support one’s family, but the love of money is the root of all evil, as the Bible says. There is a difference.
When backbiting and fighting over money and appearances of wealth, destroys families and friendships, how can that be a good thing.
Disclaimer: I know quite a few people in Atlanta and none of them behave like the people on the show.
'Real Housewife' Loses House, Still a Wife
Posted Aug 11th 2009 1:45AM by TMZ Staff - Lisa Wu-Hartwell needs a "Big Poppa" of her own ... the real housewife of Atlanta just lost her real big house in Atlanta.
TMZ has learned Hartwell and her husband, former Oakland Raiders linebacker Edgerton Hartwell, were booted from their multi-million dollar Georgia mansion last week -- after the bank foreclosed on the place and sold it shortly after.
Hartwell's rep tells us the couple was in talks with the lender to restructure the loan because the home had lost value -- but that failed. They originally bought the place for $2.9 mil back in 2007 -- but the bank only got $1.9 mil when they resold it this month.
The rep says "Ed and Lisa are fine. They have settled in their [new] home, that sits on 10 acres and they OWN it!"