In a new documentary, Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins opens up about her former group mate, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes. She shared that she believes if Lisa Left Eye were alive today, she’d be the “female Kanye.” The documentary, titled TLC Forever, features accounts from T-Boz and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas about their experience being part of the sensational group. The Lifetime feature documentary premiered today.
“She’d be the female Kanye West,” T-Boz claims. “I said that because Lisa was always just saying things,” she explained, “If she had Twitter fingers, she’d be all over the place and have something to say about everything and not care. She’d be making all of the shocking comments.” She continued, “And Kanye was the only comparison I could think of about what my sister would be like now.”
Left Eye was pronounced dead in 2002 at age 30, following a severe car crash in Honduras. Chilli discussed the artist’s passing during promotion for the documentary with US weekly. “I remember I didn’t listen to the radio for a long time ‘cause I didn’t wanna hear reports about her,” she described. “We didn’t want people coming up, saying, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry,’” Chilli continued, “and I know that they meant well, but when you’re in pain, you just don’t wanna hear any of that. It took me a long time to refer to her in the past [tense], because I couldn’t believe it. And I think it has so much to do with, when you’re young like that, you think you’re invincible.”
T-Boz also discussed having sickle cell anemia in the documentary, as well as her 2010 surgery to remove a benign brain tumor. She explained, “Maturing over the years and realizing how many things I have triumphed over makes you start reminiscing, like, dang, I got through that and that?” The artist added, “I just thought I might as well tell people so they’ll understand, and hopefully it will help someone.”
TLC will forever go down in history as one of the greatest girl groups of all time. As we celebrate 50 years of Hip Hop this year, you can’t forget what these three ladies did as a unit. While they may have had their differences, T-Boz, Chilli, and Left Eye were sisters and treated each other as family, and their legacy will live on forever.
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Thankfully, Lifetime is premiering the TLC Forever documentary, as T-Boz and Chilli wear their hearts on their sleeves and tell their story for the first time on camera. While most fans may associate TLC with their timeless hits — including “No Scrubs,” “Creep,” “Waterfalls,” “Unpretty,” and many more — there’s so much that transpired behind the public eye that affected each member individually… including the tragic loss of Left Eye, T-Boz getting diagnosed with sickle cell and a brain tumor, Chilli getting an abortion at age 20, and so much more.
The Source had the pleasure of attending the first look screening of TLC Forever before it premieres on Lifetime on Sunday, June 3rd at 8pm PST. Taking a seat inside Theater 68 in Los Angeles, California, the two-hour film was followed by a highly-anticipated Q&A with Chilli. Unfortunately, T-Boz wasn’t feeling well and could not make it.
Chilli at the TLC Forever screening one of the most influential girl groups of all timepic.twitter.com/7DMEFfGOTs
When asked her favorite songs to perform, Chilli says she likes “all the uptempos, because we’re also dancers. So I love, love love. I’m happy when it’s time to slow down a little bit, but I’m not excited about it. Alright fine, we’ll do ‘Unpretty’. We’ll sing ‘Red Light Special’, fine. But I’m ready to get it back up there.”
This then became a question of her most underrated songs from TLC, with “Let’s Do It Again” taking precedence.
chilli from tlc says babyface “brings out the absolute best in every artist he works with” pic.twitter.com/7hhhVm6dqE
“I love that song,” she states. “First of all, it was always so much fun working with Babyface. He’s the best, and he brings out the absolute best in every artist he works with vocally. You’d think he’s a vocal coach or something. On ‘Diggin’ On You’, the register I was singing in, it’s in between your falsetto and the head is right in here. I remember when he first was telling me to do it, because the key, I had to do it that way. And I got a headache. I’m like, I feel like I’m about to pass out. He’s like ‘you’ll get used to it,” and he’s right. It’s just I had never done that before. That’s what I mean, you know, is so awesome that you can work with different producers who really understand the vocals, teach you and show you.”
While TLC has left its mark on music, they were also known for their trendy, out-of-this-world style.
“Mind you, I never wore tight clothes anyway. I was always drinking weight gain shakes, asking my mom: ‘why can’t I gain weight? When are my hips gonna pop out more?’ I’m 16, asking these questions. She’s like, oh it’s gonna come’. I’m 18, it hasn’t come yet. I’m eating all this food because they say when you go to college, you gain the freshman 15. I was so excited! My freshman year, I didn’t gain one pound. Not one pound. I was getting constipated,I’m sorry. You know when you’re not eating enough fiber and veggies, it’s going to be a problem. Just forget it, it’ll happen when it happens.”
She continues, “When I got in the group, Tionne and Lisa were already having the baggy pants. I didn’t go as big as what they had on at the time, so I started with 32’s. Then I worked my way up to 33’s, 34’s. We all have a sense of style. At that point, it all started coming together. We knew we didn’t want to dress extra girly. It was great that when I got in the group, we all had the same mindset. We felt the same. We didn’t want to dress like that. Once we got the rhythm of what we liked, it was on from there. We’d go shopping at the Gap and buy all these big clothes. Come back home, cut them, write stuff on it. Pinning things on it. We made it our thing.”
Chilli also recalls that when the second album came out, that’s when they met Julie Mijares, who designed all the iconic looks. She explains, “Because she understood that we didn’t want to dress a certain kind of way, but we needed to grow. She was able to help bridge us over like that.”
What Chilli loves most when TLC was on the road is “looking out into the audience and seeing these young girls. I love kids, babies, I love them so much. When I see that, it really warms my heart. It makes me even more proud of the work that we’ve done, because you don’t know if your music is going to be timeless or have that type of longevity. Time tells you those things. It’s been a couple of decades and the kids, they like it. I think too, our lyrical content is what anybody can relate to.”
This turned into a discussion of how their song “Unpretty” is extremely relatable in today’s age, where people are constantly comparing themselves to what they see on social media.
It’s human nature,” Chilli explains. “It’s a different time, but it’s the same thing. It’s the same thing. We all go through the same stuff, and that’s the truth. Even if I don’t go through everything that you’ve gone through, at some point in our lives, we’ve gone through something that’s the same. Especially women. That’s why so many people can connect with us, because they can relate.”
The convo then turned into how amazing TLC fans were, especially when it comes to young females taking after their fashion style. Chilli was then asked who her favorite artists were.
“I have several favorite artists. Seal is always going to be one of my favorite artists of all time, because I respect his writing skills and how he puts a whole song together. There’s harmonies and everything. Him and Sade to me are the same really. When you listen to their lyrics, you have to go back like wait, what did you say? In one of his songs, ‘Don’t Cry’, he says ‘I’m your sedative, take a piece of me whenever you can.’ Ooh, that’s deep. See if somebody really loves the other person. [laughs] Of course, y’all know Michael Jackson is my what?”
At this point, she jokes that the crowd isn’t real fans, as she fills in the blank: “come on, he’s my husband!”
Takeaways from the special event: Chilli is a different breed. Her humility shines through every time she speaks, from when she started at age 20 to now: a grown, strong-minded, Christian woman who prides herself in raising a man. Her aura reminds you of how important it is to be kind, take care of your mental health, and stay passionate in whatever you love to do.
TLC remains one of the highest-regarded female singing groups of all time, and they’re just getting started. The Atlanta-based trio burst onto the scene over thirty years ago and has been a force ever since. After four Grammy awards, and over 90 million records sold worldwide, the ladies have still endured many trials and tribulations. Surviving bankruptcy and losing its third member Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes in 2002 did not break Rozanda “Chilli” Thomas and Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins. Now, the ladies are documenting their illustrious journeys with a new documentary.
The two-part doc has been in the works for a while, but on Monday, fans got the first look. A collaborative effort between Lifetime and A&E Networks, TLC Forever is an in-depth look into their rise to fame. Other superstars such as Questlove and collaborator Missy Elliot appear in the film, detailing the group’s success from a fellow creator’s lens. The documentary is not short of nostalgia, offering archival footage from their decades in the spotlight.
“No matter what we went through, we never questioned the love,” Chilli is heard saying in the 90-second trailer. TLC Forever will also follow the women on their current endeavors. Now in their 50’s, they are showing no sign of slowing down. In fact, the Matthew Kay-directed film will highlight the preparation of their Hot Summer Nights Tour alongside early 2000s superstar, Shaggy. This moment is especially monumental because it marks the first time the ladies had been on the road since 2021’s CrazySexyCool tour.
Both T-Boz and Chilli served as executive producers on the television special. Fellow executive producers include Roger Ross Williams and Geoff Martz for One Story Up and Bill Diggins for Diggit Entertainment Group. Lauren Fulton, also with One Story Up, will handle production duties. From A&E Networks, Elaine Frontain Bryant and Brad Abramson will also lend their talents to EP roles. Ahead of their highly anticipated show, T-Boz and Chilli graced the cover of Variety. Alongside them were fellow R&B stars Keyshia Cole and Mary J. Blige. Each of the ladies are being recognized by the publication for forthcoming Lifetime projects. Sharing the cover on her Instagram, Chilli congratulated her fellow front cover stars on their similar accomplishments. Fans can catch “TLC Forever” when it debuts on A&E Networks and Lifetime June 3rd at 8 P.M.
Matthew Lawrence and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas rocked matching black outfits while attending Lifetime and Verizon’s Black Excellence Dinner: A Celebration of Female Creatives. The event was put on in celebration of the upcoming TLC documentary TLC Forever. The two-hour documentary will detail the highs and lows of the group’s iconic career. It will air in June on Lifetime and A&E.
Lawrence and Chilli have been dating since November, just months after Lawrence finalized his divorce from former Dancing With the Stars pro Cheryl Burke in September. The two had been married for three years. They began dating back in 2018.
Matthew Lawrence & Chilli
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 09: Matthew Lawrence (L) and Chilli Thomas attend as Lifetime Celebrates Black Excellence with their Female Creatives and Talent at the +Play Partner House on March 09, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Randy Shropshire/Getty Images for Lifetime)
Lawrence spoke about his relationship with Chilli during an interview with Entertainment Tonight’s Deidre Behar, earlier this month. At the time, he revealed that the two hope to have children. “I hope. … That’s what we’re trying to do,” Lawrence said. “Life is always a surprise. My life is in a complete bloom right now. I get to spend time with an amazing woman like Chilli. I’ve never gotten to be able to experience that kind of relationship before, so it’s quite special. She’s a really, really special human being. I wish more people on the planet were like her. We’d be much better off.”
Lawrence also detailed what he likes most about Chilli. “She’s just got, you know, her morals and her values,” Lawrence revealed. “The way she treats her family. She loves my family, so important. We get along. We’ll talk on the phone and she’s like, ‘My mom’s calling me.’ I’m like, ‘Go get it. I know how important that is.’ Same thing like my mom calls me. It’s not like, ‘Why are you talking to your mom?!’ It’s like, ‘Oh, your mom. Go talk to your mom,’ you know?” Elsewhere in the interview, Lawrence detailed how the two initially bonded during a flight to Atlanta. They made their relationship official on Instagram in December.
one of the most influential girl groups of all time
