Toni discusses declaring bankruptcy at 1:27
Singer Toni Braxton declared bankruptcy for the second time in October, listing debts from $10 to $50 million to multiple personal creditors including Neiman Marcus, Tiffanys, The IRS, BMW, and The Four Seasons Hotel. She also owed money to hospitals and for medical bills, and according to Toni that’s why she became bankrupt. In a new video in which she answers user-submitted questions to the Huffington Post, Toni said that her medical issues with Lupus led her to pull out of her Vegas tour, and that she declared bankruptcy so that business creditors “couldn’t come and sue me for the show that I couldn’t complete.”

Everyone talks about my financial issues. What they don’t know is that my health is what led to my financial troubles. Everyone talks ‘she spent her money.’ That’s so not true, I don’t think [people] understand the bankruptcy rules and the laws, it’s to protect you. So once I got ill and had to cancel my Vegas show, all my concerts I had to file bankruptcy so I would be an protected so everyone wouldn’t come and sue me for the show that I couldn’t complete.

Everyone says ‘Oh she spent all her money, she has to lower her spending habits. It’s so not true.

[From video on Huffington Post]

Many years ago I worked as a consultant for a company that declared bankruptcy and stiffed me out of over $5,000 that I really needed to make ends meet at the time. I understood that the company needed to declare bankruptcy to stay in business, but they screwed everyone including the lowly consultants who had already done work for them, not just the large creditors who could afford not to get paid. That’s the thing that gets me about “bankruptcy,” everyone gets stiffed. Toni did it twice, once 12 years ago and again last year. While I understand that she may have needed protection after her health affected her ability to work – does that mean she gets all her loans for jewelry, high end clothing, and her car forgiven too? Why was she getting those things on credit instead of paying for them with money she already had? (The luxury goods I mean, I understand getting a car loan, although she could have bought something outright with the type of money she makes.) She didn’t pay her parking tickets in multiple states for God’s sake. That’s not something that has to do with “business,” that’s a personal failure to take responsibility for her bills. I understand bankruptcy when people lose their jobs due to health issues, but this is a millionaire who did it twice and is blaming the second time on business reasons. Meanwhile she never could be bothered to put a $15 check in the mail for any of her parking tickets. I’m sorry that she has lupus along with her heart problems and had to go through all that though. She also has a son with autism, although she says he’s doing well and is in public school.

Toni is shown on 3/30/11 at a Lindt chocolate event for Autism Speaks. Credit: WENN

The last we heard of singer Toni Braxton she was declaring bankruptcy for the second time, having racked up between $10 to $50 million in debt all over the country. Toni had no idea how much she owed exactly, but knew it was at least 8 figures and included unpaid parking tickets, medical bills, IRS leins, and charges to Neiman Marcus. Now Toni has to make some money to continue to live foolishly. She’s set to star in a reality show with her sisters, who are also singers. The show will premiere on the WE Network next year, along with a new reality show starring Joan and Melissa Rivers. Now the Rivers reality show could be mildly interesting, particularly since Joan has really gone off the rails lately. I wonder if they’ll air footage in which she compares various people to Hitler or if they’ll edit those parts out.

Braxton, the Grammy-winning singer of “Un-Break My Heart” and “You’re Makin’ Me High,” will appear in “Braxton Family Values” on the WE network starting in April. Braxton’s sisters – Traci, Towanda, Trina and Tamar – are all aspiring singers…

The dynamic of four women trying to follow the 43-year-old Braxton into show business – with varying levels of success – appealed to WE executives. The network’s research indicated that programs about families, often with a humorous touch, is a niche worth exploring.

On Jan. 25, WE is debuting a series about Joan Rivers and daughter, Melissa, along with “A Stand Up Mother,” about comedian Tammy Pescatelli trying to balance family and career.

“Our goal is to put on families that are big personalities, who are interesting, entertaining, full of drama and conflict and you can’t wait to tune in next week,” Kim Martin, the network’s president and general manager, said recently.

WE believes family members who are emotionally invested in one another will make for situations that ring truer than reality fare where strangers are forced together in contrived circumstances, said John Miller, the network’s programming chief.

“Our goal is not to look at family viewing,” Martin said. “Our goal is to show families, because women define themselves by the relationships in their lives.”

Viewers relate to the family in “Downsized,” particularly the boy who sold his baseball mitt to raise money, Martin said. The show’s audience was about twice the size of what WE had previously aired on Saturday nights, she said.

[From AP]

All these new networks need programming, and reality shows are just about the easiest way to get built-in drama and plotlines, by filming and exaggerating what’s already happening in the lives of lesser celebrities. In Toni’s case there’s sure to be a lot of mindless shopping and throwing away parking tickets without looking at them. We’ll get to see Joan Rivers go to the plastic surgeon and make fun of various celebrities using tired old jokes that could apply to just about anyone. Maybe Oprah does have it right when she says we need to raise the bar for television, or maybe WE isn’t aiming low enough. We’ve clearly shown a preference for trashier television with famewhores who will do anything for publicity. Toni Braxton and Joan Rivers are just run of the mill has-beens, and those kind of reality shows have run their course.

Singer Toni Braxton, 43, is filing for bankruptcy for the second time, listing debts that range from $10 to $50 million. That’s a huge range which just shows how little grasp she has on her finances. Braxton first filed for bankruptcy in 1998, and told Oprah at the time that it was the fault of her managers and money-handlers along with the fact that she was being paid low royalties for her chart topping music. I wonder whose fault it is this time. Here’s TMZ’s report on Braxton’s money problems:

Toni Braxton has filed for bankruptcy again — claiming she owes somewhere between $10 million and $50 million in unpaid debts all over the country … including DMVs in TWO different states.

Braxton — who sold more than 40 million albums in her career — just filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in California … and in the docs, the singer claims she’s only worth somewhere between $1 mil and $10 mil … but she could have up to $50 mil in debts.

In the docs, 43-year-old Braxton lists a ton of creditors to whom she thinks she may owe money… including:

– AT&T
– The Four Seasons Hotels
– Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
– Various medical bills
– DirecTV
– Neiman Marcus
– The William Morris Agency
– Tiffany & Co.
– Orkin Pest Control
– The Internal Revenue Service
– BMW Financial Services

Braxton also claims she may owe money to the City of L.A. Parking Violations Bureau — and the DMV in both California and Nevada.

Braxton has a storied history of financial problems — she filed for bankruptcy back in 1998 … and earlier this year, the IRS filed a lien against her for $396k.

[From TMZ]

I get that she could have been overextended 12 years ago when she was relatively new to fame and letting other people deal with her finances. It’s over ten years later, though, and she had plenty of time to scale down and get on top of things with people she trusts to help her out. How do people rack up that much debt, particularly in unpaid parking tickets that are right there on their windshield every time, and not realize what’s going on? Do they just ignore bills entirely? There’s a kind of willful ignorance in it, along with some deep issues with money. I learned a lot from Suze Ormon’s books in terms of handling money and not letting your emotions get in the way. I still freak out a little when I have to do my taxes and I understand the urge to ignore it, although guilt would never let me do that. Toni has obvious money issues. There are much worse things, particularly when you’re living that kind of lavish lifestyle. When you’re bringing in millions you can hire someone to help balance your damn books.

Toni is shown on 5/8/10 and 11/21/09. It looks like she spent a lot of that money at the plastic surgeon’s office.

Photo credit: Fame Pictures

Oh, Lord. Child. Honey. Pull it together. This is Toni Braxton, wearing some just horrible as she was seen entering (or exiting) Mr. Chow in LA. Mr. Chow is one of those restaurants in LA, much like the Ivy, where you know you’re going to have your photo taken coming and going. I’m saying that Toni knew she would be photographed, and this is what she chose to wear. Pacific Coast News describes the scene: “Toni Braxton leaves little to the imagination as she slithers out of Mr Chow wearing a risque lace-panelled catsuit. The R&B songstress has a new album due out in May 2010.” Yep. That’s what this is about. Toni is shilling her cameltoe to sell her album. As if we’re more likely to buy her album now that we know the exact outline of her vadge.

Wait… lace panels? Oh, there they all. Jesus. This unitard is a f-cking mess. Who designs these things? And who buys one two sizes too small? I’m worried that Toni is cutting off circulation to her vadge, this thing is so tight. It’s sad that she has to wear this to get attention. She’s got a great voice, a great body, and she’s still really pretty. This was a terrible PR move! FREE THE CAMELTOE.

Oh, God, it’s a mess from behind too. Wait, is the back of her head shaved? UGH.

Toni on April 26, 2010 in LA.

It’s been a hard year for Toni Braxton. After canceling concerts due to a heart condition, it now seems that she has had a benign lump removed from her breast. Toni actually discovered the lump while filming Dancing with the Stars, and postponed having it removed until she was off the show on October 20th.

The 41-year-old admits that she discovered the benign tumour before she appeared on the ABC programme, but decided to wait until she was eliminated from the contest to undergo surgery.

And Braxton is now relieved that she exited the show early.

She tells Us Weekly.com, “Getting the boot on the show was actually a blessing in disguise for me. My grandmother on my dad’s side died of breast cancer, and I have aunts on both sides that have breast cancer.”

Contact Music

Toni is going to be fine, and this will be a reminder to people that finding a lump on your breast doesn’t mean you’ve got cancer. Whatever happens you really need to go get it checked out. Don’t be afriad to go to the doctor.

Toni Braxton has recently created a PSA for parents, comparing her odds of being a successful musician to the odds of her having a child with autism, the point being that the odds are 1 in 150 that you may have a child with autism and that you should learn the early signs. The sooner autistic children get help the better the outcome for them. Toni has been outspoken about her son Diezel’s autism, saying that if he had been diagnosed sooner (he was three) he could have been helped. She was angry that doctors wanted to take a wait-and-see approach, when she felt treatment should have started immediately.

Toni Braxton is shown on 11/7/08 at a Lupus fundraiser she hosted in LA. Credit: WENN

Toni Braxton, who is a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association, was admitted to the hospital last night after suffering from chest pains during her Las Vegas show. Braxton found out that she had pericarditis during her last pregnancy.

R+B star Toni Braxton has been admitted to a hospital in Las Vegas. The “Unbreak My Heart” singer was taken to St. Rose Dominican Hospital on Monday night after her show at the Flamingo Hotel and Casino, where she has been performing since 2006.

The full details surrounding Braxton’s hospital visit are currently unclear, but she is known to suffer from the heart condition pericarditis, where the sack surrounding the heart becomes inflamed. She is said to be in good condition, according to local news station Fox 5.

Braxton is due to return to the Las Vegas stage on Wednesday (09Apr08), but whether or not that show has been cancelled as a result of her new health problem has yet to be revealed.

[From Contact Music]

Wikipedia says pericarditis symptoms generally present as “Chest pain, radiating to the back and relieved by sitting up forward and worsened by lying down, is the classical presentation. Other symptoms of pericarditis may include dry cough, fever, fatigue and anxiety. Pericarditis can be misdiagnosed as myocardial infarction (heart attack), and vice versa.” There’s a wide variety of causes, ranging from a viral or bacterial infection to Lupus to a heart attack. It sounds like Toni pulled through her whole show, which is amazing. Hopefully Braxton will be okay and make a quick recovery.

Here’s Toni Braxton performing at the House of Blues in Chicago on 3/22/2006. Images thanks to WENN.

Toni Braxton, she of little clothing and the crazy nip slips, has been sued for breach of contract for not paying for her clothing. Ironic, no? Anthony Franco, a wardrobe and costume designer, sued Braxton for the $15,000 she still owes him for work he did for her “Toni Braxton: Revealed” Las Vegas show. Braxton was supposed to pay Franco $35,000 for designing the whole wardrobe for her show, and she wrote him a check for that amount. However she stopped payment on it. She eventually paid him $20,000 – leaving $15,000 still owed.

“Is there a chink in Toni Braxton’s business chain?

“The “’Unbreak My Heart’ chanteuse was sued for breach of contract Friday by a costume designer who claims Braxton bounced a check and has yet to pay their agreed-upon fee for his work on her Las Vegas show, ‘Toni Braxton: Revealed.’

“Plaintiff Anthony Franco, who says he designed the entire wardrobe for Braxton’s standing act at the Flamingo Hotel, claims he has only collected $20,000 of the $35,000 that’s owed to him and that the check he tried to cash was returned for insufficient funds because the defendants put a stop-payment on it.

“Liberty Entertainment Inc., which issued the check, has also been named as a defendant.

“Franco is seeking $15,000 in compensation, plus unspecified damages for the alleged slight, according to the complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.

“Braxton’s reps have not yet commented on the suit.”

[From E! News]

Braxton has a history of money and management problems. She filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection ten years ago, owing almost $4 million. According to Wikipedia, “All of her personal household possessions were tagged and marked for sale to pay off her creditors, including her prestigious awards.” In January 2007 she filed a lawsuit against her ex-manager Barry Hankerson for “fraud, deception and double dealing,” for convincing her to leave her longtime record label for his own. Hankerson is the uncle of the late R&B singer Aaliyah, and was her manager as well. She lost the suit, in a big way – the judge ruled that she had to pay Hankerson $375,000 and a percentage of the sales from her next album.

Toni Braxton sorta seems to have a screw lose. I really hate it when celebrities are always losing their clothes. 99.9% of the population walks around everyday and is able to keep their naughty bits to themselves. It’s not that hard. It’s not indicative of classiness when anyone does it, but Toni is almost 40 years old – that’s way beyond the age where she can pretend to be dumb and not know what she’s doing. And she seems to think she doesn’t have to pay for things, services included. Here’s some super classy pictures of her performing.

Picture note by JayBird: Here’s Toni Braxton at the House of Blues in Chicago in March 2006. Header image is from the Something New Movie Premiere in January 2006. The last pic is from 27th Annual American Music Awards in January 2000. I just thought it was funny. Images thanks to PR Photos.