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For the past 48 hours, the internet and the world around it have been reeling about the possible suicide attempt of singer and reality star, Tamar Braxton. Braxton, who was reportedly found by longtime boyfriend David Adefeso in her downtown Los Angeles hotel room around 10 PM on Thursday, appeared unresponsive and was rushed to the hospital shortly thereafter. There have been many question marks in the minds of concerned fans as they wonder what might have driven Braxton to this point. There are many theories about what could lead to this tragic incident, though nothing has been confirmed at this time.

It has been reported that several weeks leading up to Braxton’s alleged suicide attempt, she sent a heart-wrenching letter to the executives of her network eluding to the fact that they were making her consider ending her own life. Braxton, who has had a long-standing relationship with the network WeTV, says in her email that her family is now in “disarray” following what has been referred to as, “exposure of secrets that she had never shared with anyone.”

“We fight with each other, we betray each other, and now we’re physically assaulting each other — all happening because your show [Braxton Family Values] has chosen to show the absolute worst side of a strong, independent and successful African American family; a show that I created to showcase a strong Black Family as a beacon of hope for all the young black girls and boys out there; instead you coached and cajoled us into finding the worst in each other.”

In the email, she accuses the network of being “cruel slave masters” and makes comparisons to “oppressive police forces that now terrorize our communities”

Braxton adds in her email that “the final stake into the heart of my family” was “the day you dug up a secret I’d never shared with anyone, a secret I was so ashamed to talk about that I hid it even from my own mom: the fact that I had been assaulted and raped repeatedly from age 6 to age 16, sometimes multiple times a day.”

Braxton, in her plea to the network for “freedom,” accuses producers of “exposing these things on the show in front of my entire family and 100 crew members.”

“You broke me that day and I considered ending my own life then for the shame I felt,” she adds.

Braxton, whose new show, Get Ya’ Life, is scheduled to air on the network July 30th, is one of several that she has participated in with them. Following the airing of Braxton Family Values in April of 2011, she also starred in the spin-off Tamar and Vince in December of that same year with former husband, Vincent Herbert. The two share a son, seven-year-old Logan Vincent Herbert.

It has been reported that Braxton is now in stable condition and the outpouring of love and support from her friends and fans has been heartwarming. We all love watching Tamar Braxton and all the personality that she brings to television. She IS entertainment and she lights up our screens. When what lies beneath is fragile and maybe even broken, however, we must take a minute to think about the human heart on the other side of the laughs and the funny faces. We lift Tamar and her family in our thoughts and our prayers.

Know that it is okay to seek help when you need it. To do so does not make you weak. It does not make you “less than.” Our mental health is important.