tamar braxton cover story october 2013 ebony

7/21/2019 Tamar Braxton Cover Story October 2013 EBONY

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V I S I T E B O N Y. C O M J U L Y

O C T O B E R V I S I T

H E S O U RM I R A C L E B A B Y

T A M A R B R A X T O N & V I N C E N T H E R B E R T

Afer grappling with in ertility iss ues and a surprise pregnancy, the reali ty TV star, singer and talk show hostis basking in the bliss o new motherhood. Now i only sh

can get a push gif rom her husband! By A M Y E L I S A K E I T H

Ph ot og ra ph s by B R I A N B R A N C H P R I C E

St yl in g by A S H L E Y T H O M A SF O R T A M U A R T I S T A G E N C Y. C O M


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the results.

What do two lines mean? Vincent yelled rom the master bathroom.What? Why did you say that? Tamar

replied, with disbelie .He walks in, and says, Yes! she re-

calls, mimicking her look o shock. I putthe covers over my head; I just couldnt believe what was happening.

Ever the practical couple, they neededmore proo . I get the sonogram, andtheres a little jelly bean, says the Loveand War singer, laughing at the memoryo the rst time she saw her baby. She re-calls staring at the monitor and realizing

For the previous year, WE tvs Braxton

Family Valuesstar Tamar, 36, and her,manager and husband, Streamline Re-cords president Vincent Herbert, 43, weretold by doctors that they could not natu-rally conceive. She was given less than a5-percent chance o getting pregnant with-out medical intervention. Nevertheless,Keris observation nagged her, so the nextmorning Tamar decided to take one o thedozens o pregnancy tests she kept in the bathroom drawer. Leaving the white stickon the counter and getting back into bed,the Tamar & Vince staryes, she has tworeality showsasked her husband to check

ONE ORDINARY DAY last October, Tamar Braxton had nally reachedher goal weight and debuted her new look during a amily dinner at Bev-erly Hills eatery Mr. Chow. I was eeling great and looking snatched,she says, using one o her trademark colloquialisms while sitting crosslegged on a plush so a inside her home in Calabasas, Cali .

As usual, the reality TV star-turned-recording artist-turned-daytimetalk show goddess is berchatty. She remembers her sister Toni Brax-

tons ex-husband, Keri Lewis, saying, Tamar youre different skinny like Braxton-preg-nant-girl skinny. She dismissed the comment, even though, unbeknownst to her, she hadstarted to take on the slender build and sunken eyes that her sisters had exhibited whenthey were expecting.

I said, Shut your mouth, honeybunch! That cant happen.

they had deed the odds by conceiving theold- ashioned way. Vince stands up, andI think hes going to aint, she adds. Ourlives changed rom that moment.

Fast- orward 38 weeks plus six hours olabor, when Tamar and Vincent welcomedLogan Vincent Herbert into the world onJune 6, 2013 at 9:40 p.m, weighing in at6 pounds, 11 ounces. Like a scene romtheir reality show, little Logan entered thisworld in true Braxton ashion: with a song.In the delivery room, Tamar led her sis-tersalong with OB GYN Jackie Walters,M.D.in an impromptu reestyle with

each harmonizing, and the mom-to-becomically nishing the verse with andthats my babys daddy.

Hes an amazing baby, and hes cooingalready and laughing, says the proudmama. The newest member o the Braxtonclan, Logan got his name rom the unlike-liest place: a soap opera.

People dont know that Vince watchesThe Bold and The Beautiful , and his avoritecharacter is Brooke Logan, she laughs.In addition, Tamar, a true ashionista, gotwhat she wanted regarding her sons nameas well.

I wanted want the initials L.V, like Lou-is Vuitton, says the diva, whose version oat-home mommy mode (awless makeup, a bright red pout and a chic strapless romp-er) is Hollywood glam. Dont judge me.

For the singer with a supersassy im-agejust listen to her hit song HotSugarli e has suddenly gotten verydomestic. Changing stinky diapers, eed-ings our times a day and burping the babyare coveted responsibilities. Vince and Iargue over [baby duties], admits Tamar,pointing at her husband, who is in the nextroom. Vince is the biggest baby hogger.The desire to experience every ounce o joywatching Logan eat or sleep (the protec-tive papa has a crib camera linked to hisiPhone) is understandable or any rst-time parent. But or these two, marvelingat their son is extra special.

He is our miracle baby, she says.

O V E R C O M I N G T H E O D D SThe blessing o baby Logan came aferthe couples two most difficult years. In

late 2011, reality TV cameras capturedVincents hospitalization afer he suffereda li e-threatening pulmonary embolism.Facing her husbands mortality, Tamar, juggling a hectic schedule recording analbum and starring on two reality shows,was shaken to her core. It was then thatthey realized they wanted to reeze theirembryos should things take a turn or theworse. During initial testing, however, doc-

tors discovered Tamar had unusually lowamounts o the hormone AMH, indicat-ing a low egg count. Further examinationshowed both allopian tubes were blocked,preventing ertilization. At rst, Tamarcracked jokes to mask her crushing disap-pointment. Then the reality set in, saysWalters. She realized, Im not TamarBraxton Herbert [the star]; Im TamarBraxton, the in ertile patient.

Throughout this pain ul discovery and

the subsequent hormone therapy or invitro ertilization, reality TV cameraskept rolling. Id be in bed and couldntget out because I was hysterically cry-ing and depressed, admits Tamar, whoendured as many as three hormone shotsdaily. Irritability, mood swings and atiguemarked the 11-month roller coaster, butshe remained determined to share mucho her story with viewers. She says, I

gured how many other women hadnthad the conversation [about in ertility],and thats why we decided to lm it. (Seesidebar on previous page.) Thank ully, in just one treatment, doctors extracted eighteggs and ertilized ve; our embryos wereharvested and remain rozen.

In hindsight, their seemingly insur-mountable challenges, ollowed by theamazement o natural conception, havehelped gird the parents or this new and

unpredictable chapter o their lives. Cel-ebrating their fh wedding anniversaryin November, Tamar says, Making it outo that horrible situation [and] having ourmiracle baby made us unbreakable.

T H R E E O F A K I N DNow that their storm is over, Mom andDad are enjoying smooth sailing. Hes avery easy baby, and he doesnt cry, ex-

claims Tamar. The in ant alrethrough the night in his baby-green nursery, designed by dethe stars Jeff Andrews. You kthey tell you that God wont gthan you can handle? Thats wgets up that one time, she lau by 10 p.m., Logan wakes up bin time to see Mommy off to w bevy o eager aunts, uncles aEvelyn ready to play, Logans

packed while his mother has bing two episodes a day or a dshow, The Real .

Breast- eeding, however, wI didnt instantly have that go

eeling I was yearning or, sAfer a heartbreaking delay iing milk, ollowed by three wcult nursing, she says she andgave up. Formula is all little L

ACCORDING TO THE Na-tional Survey of Family Growth,

infertility affects one in eightcouples, or 7.3 million people inthe United States. Compared toWhite women, African-Amer-ican women have twice theodds of experiencing infertility,which is dened as a couplesinability to conceive after oneyear of trying. Statistics showthat 11.5 percent of Black womenreport infertility compared to7 percent of White women. In

addition to the higher incidenceof uterine broids among Black

women, the dual trends of delay-ing parenthood and becomingobese are contributing to arise in infertility, says OB-GYNJackie Walters, M.D. One-thirdof fertility issues, however, stemfrom deciencies in the man:abnormal sperm production orfunction, sexual problems andcertain medications. Talking toyour physician to nd the sourceof the issue will reveal whether

in vitro fertilization or hormonestimulating drugs, such as Clo-

mid, are treatment options. Weas Black women are becominga lot more educated about ourhealth and infertility, says Wal-ters. Being that several of ourcelebrities have gone throughthisTamar, Angela Bassett,Sherri Shepherdthey areshowing us that we can havesuccess, too.

BLACK WOMEN & INFERTILITY: A CLOSER LOOK

ACCORDING TO THE MAYO CLINIC, SEE YOUR DOCTOR IF ...

WOMEN:l Youre age 35 to 40 and have been trying

to conceive for six months or longerl Youre over age 40

l You menstruate irregularly or not at alll Your periods are very painful

l You have known fertility problemsl Youve been diagnosed with

endometriosis or pelvicinammatory disease

l Youve had more than one miscarriagel Youve had prior cancer treatment

MEN:l You have a history of low

sperm count or otherproblems with sperm,

l Or a history of testicular,prostate or sexual problems

l Youve had prior cancertreatment S T

Y L I S T A

S S I S T ANT : T E R R E N

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sisters Toni and Towanda call himwantsthese days, and he cant get enough. My baby has his parents greedy genes,laughs Tamar.

Her greedy gene was in ull effect dur-ing her pregnancy, when she craved ev-erything rom BLT sandwiches to potatochips. I exercised my right to eat what-ever I wanted, and now Im trying to get itoff, she says.

When the scales tipped 200 poundsat the height o her pregnancy, she wasanxious to get out o her size 14s and backto normal. Portion control is helping the

singer shed the pounds, but shooting The Real just weeks afer giving birth orcedTamar to make three new riends: Spanx,a girdle and panty hose. I wear all threeat the same time, she says with a sassysnap o her ngers. No Mommy makeoversurgery or tummy tuck; Tamar is deter-mined to drop the weight (and lose thosepesky cellulite dimples) with boot campworkouts and spinning classes. Im notgoing to put pressure on mysel , and Imnot going to allow anyone to put pressureon me, either.

designer duds inside his custocloset, highlighting a blinged-oer, Fendi shoes, an adorable shark n, and even Christian Dcourtesy o the Braxton sistermarvels at Logan stuntin like Tamar has one burning questiomy push gif?

Perhaps Tamars bauble orhas come in a differentand egerpackage. As her managehas helped his wi e score the always wanted: a booming cara ta lk show to the return o

Vince this all, the queen o com is on top. Last month, Breleased Love and War , eatutitle track o the same name.

As much as I did not want tmusic, it really is who I am, ao nding her sound. I tried pop records, but thats not wh just a an o it, and I had to atheres a difference.

Being a working mom has gan unexpected bonus: pride. portant to me to have my son uthat its not just dad but mom wtoo. I wanted him to have that spect or me as he does or hsays Tamar, who up until recenworked since she and Vincent ing in 2003. Thats why I bus because I want my son to be eproud [o me].

This month, she heads out owide tour with John Legend, aa.k.a. Tamartians, can expect agetic and un, engaging showa surprise cameo. Little Loganrst road experiencetour bu

Its a blessing, and Im goithat until the wheels all off, o her rst major tour. Afer yas sister Tonis back-up singer o short-lived girl group attemBraxton has nally come into Everything is alling into plaIts just conrmation that ImI am supposed to do in li e.

As or any baby girls in herinsists shes one and done. Thas no desire or an encore bu

surrogacy, with their rozen ean option or the uture. For nparents are simply relishing evmoment as a amily o three.

I eel like a woman now, putting Logan down or a naping the youngest o the Braxt being occasionally loud and b being a mom, it is beauti ul, apowering. I love every second

EVERYTHING

IS FALLING INTOPLACE. ITS JUSTCONFIRMATIONTHAT IM DOINGWHAT IMSUPPOSED TODO IN LIFE.

As or Vincent, hes just as good atmanaging his newborn as he is at guidingthe careers o his clients such as LadyGaga. From reassurances (Im going to

be the best dad possible. You can cometo me or anything.) to working romhome so he can spend time with his son,Vincent The Herbert, as his wi e lov-ingly calls him, is the best. I he wasntmy husband he would still be the best baby daddy possible.

Father and son already have matchingPolo shirts and the latest Jordans. Beam-ing with pride, Vincent shows off Logans

ON TAMAR:ALEXANDERMCQUEENDRESS

tamar braxton cover story october 2013 ebony

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