Rapper T.I. and wife, Xscape singer Tameka “Tiny” Harris might be the most transparent celebrity couple out there. After some bumps in the road, including accusations of infidelity on T.I.’s part, Tiny chose to file for divorce in April 2017. The couple has since reconciled, and we’re now getting a clearer picture of how they were able to bounce back.
During part two of their Red Table Talk appearance, the couple told Jada Pinkett Smith and her mom Adrienne Banfield-Norris that their marriage troubles began when T.I. returned home from his second prison stint in 2011 (the rapper was incarcerated on weapons charges from May to Dec. 2009 and again from Nov. 2010 to Aug. 2011. on drug charges.)
T.I. explains: “When I went to prison I guess she felt like, ‘Well now I have to figure out what I’m going to do. Because I don’t have you here to continue the protocols and practices that we established in the fundamental stages of this relationship.’” He said. “So when I got back the world was upside down. She kinda had an air like, ‘It’s my time.’ I thought we were going to hit the ground running and get back to things being the way they were.”
T.I. then says his wife’s newfound independence left him feeling obsolete, which led to him seek comfort elsewhere. When he refused to change his ways, Tiny felt divorce was the only option left.
“[The last straw] was when I could not get him to respond,” says Tiny. “Nothing was working and he was just like, ‘I’m going to move how I want to move.’ That was it,”
In retrospect, Tiny suspects her husband began to cheat as a way to feel in control.
“He felt like ‘this is not the woman I left,” Tiny said. “‘This is not the woman I wanted. If I tell her this she’s gonna listen and she’s going to do it the way I want her to do it.’ He went and found somebody where he could be like ‘hey, don’t move. Do that,’ and I was not her.”
Jada asks T.I. what made him want to work on the marriage. He replied, “It’s very rare where you are able to be married to the best friend you have and the best sex you’ve ever had,” he says. “You don’t just toss that away.”
When asked what keeps her fighting for the relationship, Tiny says, “it’s got to be a two-way street. If he’s in tune and trying to work with me, then that keeps me motivated to fight.”
Watch the full Red Table Talk conversation with T.I. and Tiny below: