Tamar Braxton Opens up About Her Mental Health Inside ‘The Surreal Life’ House (Exclusive)

Tamar Braxton was grateful to have her The Surreal Life roommates by her side as she marked the anniversary of surviving a suicide attempt. Ahead of the singer’s return to reality TV on Oct. 24, Braxton and opened up to PopCulture.com about how getting real about her own mental health journey in the Surreal Life house “bonded” the cast – which also includes Dennis Rodman, Stormy Daniels, Frankie Muniz, CJ Perry, August Alsina, Kim Coles and Manny MUA.

Braxton headed off to film The Surreal Life shortly after opening up about the July 16, 2020 incident a year after being briefly hospitalized. Having grabbed a copy of a magazine containing her story while at the airport, it wasn’t long before her story came up with her roommate Perry. “I think the magazine was on the bed, and [Perry] was like, ‘What’s that?’” Braxton told PopCulture. “…I was like, ‘Read the article and then we’ll have a discussion about it.’”

Having a “nonjudgemental” group of people around her to share their own mental health journeys was a “beautiful thing,” the Braxton Family Values star explained. “Just to come into a situation where you’re not judged, but [with] somebody who can identify, ‘Wow, I’ve been there before. My story is not your story, but I also too have had mental struggles,’” she continued. “So that kind of really truly opened the door for everyone in the house to talk about where they were mentally, which was a beautiful thing. So we all really truly bonded over that.”

Perry called Braxton’s journey “very inspiring” to the rest of the house as she brought “a lot of awareness” to the importance of mental health during a time in which she was struggling with “panic attacks” in the house. “I’m so, so grateful for it. And it’s very, very inspiring and I’m so glad I had her as a roommate, truly,” the WWE Superstar shared with PopCulture. 

Braxton agreed, “CJ was an amazing roommate because she brought light to everything, even when you felt like it was very heavy,” joking of some of her other celebrity roomies, “There were definitely some people in the house that you could tell did not live with other people before. And probably should never live with other people ever again.” The Surreal Life kicks off Monday, Oct. 24 at 9 p.m. with back-to-back episodes on VH1.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. The previous Lifeline phone number (1-800-273-8255) will always remain available.