If you ask her, Tommie Lee will tell you that she's always been a hustler. For years the former Love & Hip Hop Atlanta star has done whatever was necessary to provide for her family, but these past few years have been wrought with controversy. There were rumors about her alcoholism that reportedly caused outbursts at events and disrupted filming for L&HHATL. Then, the star was arrested on multiple occasions, spending short stints in jail.
However, no one expected that the 34-year-old would be at the center of child abuse accusations that could put her behind bars for 54 years. According to prosecutors, Lee went to her daughter's school, disrupted the class, smacked her hands with a purse strap, slapped her face, dragged her across the hallway by her hair, and pushed her into a locker.
The rapper has often expressed that she feels that the public is quick to judge and she is often misunderstood. To shed light to her situation, or at least give her perspective, Lee stars in a documentary titled Truth. The film shows a few highlights of Lee's career including hanging out with Paris Hilton and kiki-ing with Rihanna, but filmmakers also navigate the lows, showing footage of her anger issues and drinking problems.
"When I caught the child abuse charge, I was like, man," Lee says in Truth. "That broke me down. That really hurt me. I make it my business, like, my kids are never gonna go to jail. Whatever I've done in the past, I've done that so they don't have to do it. I don't wanna see my kids go through what I've gone through in life. I will lay down and die so they don't have to go through that."
"And here I am faced with this. I know it's a mistake, but our children's lives are so fragile to America," she said. "You don't have no room for mistakes. One mistake can cost you your whole life and I was just so scared. So I made it a point to explain to her about it...She's at a new school, she's being goofy. She's acting out in class. The teacher called me twice and she's starting to fail academically. She's never failed. My child has been on the honor roll her whole life so it's just like, what is going on."
Tommie explained that she's always on the road working so she's not available to sit down with her daughter one-on-one, and when she does have the opportunity, it's just for a few days before she has to hit the road once again. For the third time, her daughter's teacher called Tommie to tell her that the girl was being disrespectful. Tommie said she felt bad for the teacher and tried to figure out what was causing her daughter to act out.
"It was just so scary because I didn't want to see my child in juvenile [detention], in jail. I don't want to see her end up with the same fate as mine," Tommie said. "I never pushed my kids off on nobody...I've always done all these things to provide for them." Because of everything that has been going on with her court case, Tommie said that VH1 decided to cut ties with her, dropping her from LHHATL.
The rapper maintains that she is innocent of all charges and claims that it has turned her life upside down. Check out the first part of Truth below and let us know what you think.