In November 2019, rapper T.I. was a guest on Nazanin Mandi and Nadia Moham‘s podcast, Ladies Like Us. Although his episode has since been deleted by the hosts, his comments he made about his now 19-year-old daughter are still being talked about seven months later.
If you aren’t already aware of what T.I. had to say about his daughter Deyjah Harris and her reproductive system, you can read his statement below.
“Not only have we had the conversation — we have yearly trips to the gynecologist to check her hymen. Yes, I go with her. […] So we’ll go and sit down and the doctor comes and talk, and the doctor’s maintaining a high level of professionalism. He’s like, ‘You know, sir, I have to, in order to share information’ — I’m like, ‘Deyjah, they want you to sign this so we can share information. Is there anything you would not want me to know? See, Doc? Ain’t no problem.’ I will say, as of her 18th birthday, her hymen is still intact.”
People were outraged that T.I. felt his actions were normal. “No exaggeration, T.I. invading the space and humanity of his daughter like this is one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever heard,” one commenter wrote.
Following his comments, T.I. appeared on Red Table Talk with Jada Pinkett Smith to explain himself after he was hit with a substantial amount of hate. He noted that he made the comments in a joking matter. “From a place of truth, I began to embellish and exaggerate. I think a lot of people took it extremely literal.”
Then, in February, days after Kobe Bryant passed away, T.I. issued another apology to Deyjah and his other daughters. Now Deyjah is speaking out herself.
Deyjah Harris Addresses Dad T.I. OBGYN Comments
During the most recent episode of T.I. & Tiny: Friends and Family Hustle, Deyjah is seen in tears over her dad’s deeply personal remarks. The teenager was one vacation when the interview was released.
“Things are completely uncomfortable for me right now,” she said in a confessional. “We’re all together in this house, so I have to see my Dad and be around him. And we’re in a foreign country so it’s not like I can leave and get away.”
Deyjah learned about the podcast while scrolling through Twitter and noticing she was tagged in a post about “gynecologist.” “I didn’t even need to read the whole title ’cause I just knew. My heart sank — very shocked, hurt, angry, embarrassed.”
Then in a conversation with her cousin, Deyjah said she was trying not to “I mean, honestly, I’m embarrassed definitely for sure,” she told her cousins. “I’m trying to put it in the back of my mind so I’m not really thinking about it. I know it’s not healthy. But I’ve been doing that since I was a child.”
The show also revealed that T.I. didn’t address the elephant in the room right away either, saying, “If Deyjah hasn’t come to me, why would I disrupt my energy with that?”
“I need more time to figure out what I want to say, but things are completely awkward and uncomfortable between me and my Dad,” Deyjah said with tears in her eyes. “Prior to all of this happening, our relationship was pretty decent, but after all of this, it’s changed, honestly.”
It’s unclear what T.I. and Deyjah’s relationship looks like now.
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