Hip-Hop Megastar Discusses Her Abortion

Thanks to Jill Stanek for the below post:

On the May 9 episode of the VH1 reality show, What Chilli Wants, TLC hip hop girl group member Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas opened up about her abortion.

 

In the video Chilli described aborting at age 20, about 1991, for sadly common reasons, because she "didn't have the support" and "was so scared."...

This was also at the beginning of her musical career, she said, and she didn't know how she could do both it and motherhood.

So Chilli opted to "not have it" (couldn't say "abortion"), which turned out to be "one of the biggest mistakes," because she "didn't want to do that."

Then Chilli began to describe what abortion proponents say doesn't exist, post traumatic stress syndrome* as a result of her abortion. "It messed me up," she said, "I don't know, it broke my spirit."

Chilli felt she lost her "strong self," and that she "gave in, broke to what someone else wanted." Obviously, she felt pressured to abort.

She said she began to break down, to cry "because I wasn't a mommy" - almost every day for almost 9 years.

Chilli decided the only way to "fix it" was to have a baby with the same man, her 1st record producer, Dallas Austin.

Chilli doesn't talk about this in the video, but she indeed had a baby with Austin, son Tron, now ~13 years old, pictured right with her.

I very much appreciate Chilli's honesty.

Ironically - or perhaps subsequently - according to zvents.com, TLC's "musical formula was augmented by the girls' brightly-colored videos and curious costuming: each girl wore unwrapped condoms on their clothing (Left-Eye also wore one in a pair of glasses over her left eye), apparently advocating contraception." See top photo for Left Eye's eye condom. (Tragically, Left Eye was killed in a car accident 8 years ago.)