The last time we saw Traci Braxton, 47, on the small screen, she listened to sister Tamar, 41, beg for her forgiveness, in between sobs. And Traci relented. “Forgive me for not being there for you, for not knowing you was hurting,” she replied, offering her own apology, during part two of the Braxton Family Values finale on Oct. 4. HollywoodLife caught up with Traci afterwards for an EXCLUSIVE chat to unpack all the confessions and family heartbreak during the finale! “I don’t know what is in my sister’s heart but I know what is in my heart, and I am willing to forgive and let everything go because there was a lot of hurtful things said,” Traci revealed to us. “There was a lot of anger and we tend to take things and say things out of anger. We may not mean it or anything like that but we have to forgive.”
For Traci, forgiveness is not only about the other person, but yourself too. “Let’s get to a point where we can let it go…If that person doesn’t want to heal from them, then it is on them,” Traci continued. “It is not your fault. It is about your growth, not the other person’s growth.” But to get to that point of forgiveness, dirty laundry must be aired. And for Traci, Tamar and sisters Toni, Trina and Towanda, their family business is aired for the world to spectate — how does Traci handle that? “I think it is important because everybody’s families go through this…If you have a household of sisters, everybody goes through this,” Traci told us. “I don’t know why everybody says, ‘Hell no! I would never do this show!’ That just means you don’t have sisters,” Traci said, laughing.
And Traci has an important message for anyone who has witnessed her family feuds. “But just because they argue doesn’t mean they don’t love each other. Sometimes people don’t know how to act with their siblings when a major argument has happened,” Traci told us. “We just lay it on the line. We just are letting people know that it isn’t always peachy cream! Sometimes it can take a year or two before we get ourselves together.” Traci later added that for families going through similar situations, there’s nothing wrong with seeking outside help. “If you have to go to counseling, go to counseling,” she said. “It is totally fine.”
And what can fans of the Braxton family expect as Season 6 wraps up and the show moves forward? Traci dished what she herself hopes for in the show’s future. “I think we have a lot of interesting things to talk about and people need to see the growth of our relationships,” Traci spilled. So even though Traci and Tamar made up in the finale, we may see future arguments play out — it’s natural in any family! “Why do things have to be hush hush? That is what is wrong with the world today! If you hush hush a lot of things, then how are you supposed to grow. How are you supposed to grow as a family?”
Although Traci has an anti-hush hush mentality, she doesn’t want too many outside forces stepping inside the family circle. She later added that she’d like “to revert it more to back to the family” when Season 7 airs. This season, celebrity friends like Real Housewives of Atlanta star Phaedra Parks and Bad Girls Club star Natalie Nunn appeared while Traci’s family dealt with contract negotiations.