Key points
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T.I. generated controversy when he said that he takes “yearly trips to the gynecologist to check” his daughter’s hymen in 2019
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The rapper, who later apologized for the comments, said that the controversy “sucked.”
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“I’ve learned not to do as much talking as I do listening,” he said
T.I. is reflecting on one of his biggest controversies
In a new interview with PEOPLE, the “Live Life” rapper discussed the reaction to his 2019 comments about the virginity of his then-teenage daughter Deyjah from an episode of the Ladies Like Us podcast
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“I’ve learned not to do as much talking as I do listening,” he said before candidly sharing his thoughts about the “hymen-gate” incident: “That sucked.”
On the podcast, T.I. said, “We have yearly trips to the gynecologist to check her hymen” to ensure that Deyjah was still a virgin (per NBC News). The episode was later deleted, and the rapper apologized for his comments on an episode of Jada Pinkett Smith’s Red Table Talk
T.I. also told PEOPLE that his family was in the midst of filming its reality TV show T.I. and Tiny: Friends and Family Hustle when the Ladies Like Us episode was released and the controversy began.
“When the podcast that the interview was on, when it first came out and everything happened, we experienced that as a family in real time, and it just happened to have been recorded,” he explained. “By the time the episode or the season was finished and it came around to being aired, we’d already went through it, and the episode of the TV show was taking us back through it again.”
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T.I. now views the reality show as a kind of “photo album” for his family of nine: his wife, Tiny; his sons Messiah, Domani, King, and Major; and his daughters Zonnique, Deyjah, and Heiress. “I can go back to see Major when he was 2. He’s on his way to college now,” he said. “Or see ‘Nique before she was able to drive. I can see all of my kids’ lives and rekindle those memories.”
The rapper also shared his tactics when it comes to parenting his sons. “I learned that you have to operate with more faith than fear,” T.I. explained. “I know it could be very concerning, especially when they start driving and being out there on their own.”
He continued, “When that concern arises, you have to have faith that you’ve raised a human being that can navigate themselves through the ups and downs of society and humanity and utilize the principles that you’ve instilled in them.”
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The musician noted that he tries to put himself in his children’s shoes when he engages with his family. “A lot of the times when I’m dealing with them as kids or as young people, I could see myself in them,” he said. “So it’s just interesting having discussions because they raise a lot of the points that I would’ve raised when I was their age.”
T.I., Domani, and King are currently in the midst of their King Succession Tour, which is set to wrap in San Francisco on Aug. 15
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
