Toni Braxton reportedly no longer has debts tied to her name.
The Grammy winner’s financials have been in and out of the spotlight over the years. She famously declared bankruptcy in 1998, claiming she received minimal royalties despite massive album sales.
Over a decade later, Toni Braxton filed for bankruptcy for the second time shortly after being diagnosed with a chronic autoimmune condition, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), which affected her career and put her into millions of dollars of medical debt.
Braxton says her accounts with the IRS are finally settled! Official records show that the iconic singer was hit with a federal tax lien on June 22, but now, recent headlines show, she has reportedly resolved the debt.
The records stated that she owed a lot of money, totaling over half a million, from a few years back. The breakdown of the debt is $69,390 for 2022, $278,876 for 2023, and $250,358 for 2024, bringing the total to around $ 598,000.
A rep for the “Un-Break My Heart” vocalist tells TMZ that the bill has been resolved. The tax lien comes over a decade after she finalized her second bankruptcy. At the time, she claimed she owed millions to creditors.
Oprah Winfrey Once Scolded The Singer About Money On National TV
The “Braxton Family Values” star filed for bankruptcy in 1998 after a battle over money with her record label. During a sit-down with Winfrey on an episode of her show that year, the popular TV host took a swing at Braxton for her “irresponsible spending habits.”
The singer-turned-actress recalled years later that she was in shock when Winfrey reprimanded her on air, and she described how the experience affected her. “She was so frickin’ mean to me, I was in shock, I couldn’t believe it because I loved her so much…She pretty much reprimanded me,” she recalled.
She said, “I hear you have Gucci flatware; I’m Oprah Winfrey, and I don’t have Gucci flatware…’ You didn’t have Gucci flatware because you didn’t wanna buy it; it’s not because you couldn’t afford it.”
The singer went on to reveal that Winfrey’s statement cast a pall of shame on her. Squeezing her thumb and forefinger together, “She made me feel this big,” Braxton recalled, according to a previous release by the Toronto Sun.
Toni Braxton Was Previously Accused Of Fraudulent Activity
In 2012, TMZ reported that Braxton fraudulently transferred $53,490 to her estranged husband, Keri Lewis, to avoid paying creditors in her bankruptcy case. According to the trustee of her bankruptcy estate, Lewis received the funds after the singer’s money was already assigned to repay her creditors.
The bankruptcy trustee then sued Lewis to get the money back. Braxton, however, did not stand by the trustee’s claims. She broke the silence via her rep, who maintained that the money sent to Lewis was not some fraudulent means to evade paying her creditors.
“All of the payments made to Lewis prior to Toni’s bankruptcy filing were appropriate transfers for reasonable and necessary personal and business expenses in the ordinary course of her business,” Braxton’s rep said in a statement to news outlets. The bankruptcy case was eventually resolved in 2015.
The Mother-Of-Two Had A Fast-Rising Music Career
Braxton made waves in the industry with her 1993 self-titled debut studio album, which reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200. She recently marked the 33rd anniversary of the album’s release on Instagram, writing, “Wow! 33 years since my debut album was released. There are no words capable of describing this feeling. The time has absolutely flown by!”
Her debut album has since been certified multiplatinum, with sales exceeding 8 million copies globally. She also had her first Billboard Hot 100 hit with her classic “Un-Break My Heart.”
That same year her debut album came out, and Braxton took home her first Grammys for Best New Artist and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance honors for “Another Sad Love Song.
Braxton has walked away with seven Grammy wins out of 14 nominations throughout her music career. She reflected on the surreal moment when she held her first two golden gramophones at the 1993 Grammys on Instagram.
Outside of music, the musician also counted success in acting. She appeared on Broadway in the role of Belle in “Beauty and the Beast” and remains the first and only black woman to be cast in that role on Broadway.
Toni Braxton Found Love With Her Longtime Friend
Braxton’s first marriage to Lewis ended in 2009 after they welcomed their two sons, and the divorce was finalized in 2013. Over a decade later, the singer gave love a chance once again and secretly tied the knot with rapper and record executive Bryan ‘Birdman’ Williams.
She shared that they had been friends for over 25 years, supporting each other through the highs and lows, but remained platonic. Braxton disclosed that Birdman was there for her baby shower and came to watch her when she went on Broadway for “Beauty and the Beast.”
“We’ve been friends for a long time, and a love connection started happening a couple of years ago,” she gushed about their relationship last year. PEOPLE reports that the rapper was part of Braxton’s support system after she got her lupus diagnosis. They went through a phase of on-and-off romance before finally saying their vows.
Does this mark the end of Toni Braxton’s financial crisis?
