Brandy has always been involved in controversies. Whether it was her ongoing feud with fellow R&B queen, Monica, or the shocking tragedy of when she crashed into a woman on the 405 Freeway in 2006, Brandy just seems to have a way of making front-page news, especially with her love life.
She reportedly went out with stars like Usher, Tyrese Gibson, Nick Cannon, and Flo Rida. One of the wildest and most melodramatic romances she had was with her ex, producer Robert Smith. Their relationship was filled with twists and turns along the way that kept the public guessing what would happen next.
Brandy Shared Her Marriage Announcement on Oprah
A report by The People Who Share revealed that in 2001, Brandy began dating Robert, or Big Bert as he was sometimes called back then. The following year she appeared on an episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show with her mom.
They talked about the intense speculation going on at the time that she could be pregnant. When Oprah brought up the rumor, Brandy confirmed that she was actually expecting.
Then, she revealed something else that took everyone by surprise. She said that she and Robert had secretly gotten married that summer. This would’ve meant that they had tied the knot only 6 months after meeting each other.
When the talk show host tried pressing her for more information about the wedding, she kept tight-lipped and said that they wanted to keep the details of their special day to themselves. Although she wasn’t willing to share much about her wedding, she didn’t feel the same way about her pregnancy.
Brandy actually starred in an MTV four-part miniseries about it. A camera crew followed her around for the last couple months of her pregnancy. They included moments shared between her and her family, as well as with her then-husband.
Robert Set the Record Straight
According to The People Who Share, Brandy announced that she had gotten a divorce from Robert in 2003. She claimed that it wasn’t a difficult time for her though because she’d fallen out of love with him.
If it were up to Brandy, maybe the public would still believe the story of their marriage today. Unfortunately, Robert did not let that happen.
People Magazine reported that in 2004, the music producer went on Wendy Williams’ radio show, Moment of Truth, to spill the beans about what really happened with him and Brandy. In the interview, he dropped some truth bombs that would forever change his ex’s reputation.
He claimed that the pair never actually got married. It was something that Brandy’s mom and manager, Sonja Norwood, had fabricated with her PR team to protect the star’s image.
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Brandy was known for being wholesome and Christian, so the idea that she’d gotten pregnant out of wedlock was something that her team reportedly thought could damage her career. But, that wasn’t the only mind-blowing secret that Robert shared with Wendy when he went on her show.
He also alleged that around the time that he’d gotten Brandy pregnant, he also began dating another woman, a film producer, per Entertainment Weekly. On top of that, he said that he’d recently reunited with that woman and they were expecting a baby together. Eventually, he ended up marrying her and having three more children with her.
Brandy Insisted That the Two Had a “Spiritual Union”
How did Brandy react to the bombshell that her ex shared with the world? The funny thing is that she didn’t deny what he said.
At the same time, she made it clear that she wasn’t happy that he’d gone and told everyone. Robert went on Wendy’s show just a month after the R&B singer had released her 4th album, Afrodisiac.
EW revealed that Brandy released a statement in which she talked about how appalled she was with her ex. She alleged that he was trying to destroy her reputation while using both her and their daughter to get publicity and radio airplay for his artists. Brandy said, “I am stunned that he is being so dirty about it.”
She went on to claim that although it might not have been a legal marriage, they had a spiritual union and a true commitment to each other.
Then, Brandy pointed out that they still shared a common bond through their daughter, Sy’rai Smith. She argued that he was not thinking about her, or about Brandy, or what they had together.
Robert chose to address some of the things his baby mama had said by releasing his own statement. He stated that he wasn’t trying to get out of his responsibilities for taking care of his daughter. He and Brandy had joint custody of her.
Robert explained that when breaking off relationships it was always difficult. He preferred not to air their dirty laundry through the media. “I was just stating the TRUTH,” he said.
Robert went on to share that he and Brandy had many things to work out and would hopefully head in a more positive direction.
Brandy Finally Came Clean
Years after this came out, Brandy went back on to the Oprah Winfrey Show and admitted that she had lied the last time she was on the program. She claimed that it was for the same reasons that Robert had mentioned. She was pregnant and unmarried, and she was concerned about how that would affect her public image and career.
Brandy apologized for lying about what really happened.
Our History reported that Brandy also really opened up about the incident in a VH1 Behind The Music special. When she shared how she honestly felt back then as a young 23-year-old pregnant star at the peak of her fame, she sounded vulnerable.
When she first found out that she was expecting, she said she knew it wasn’t good news for her brand. She was raised with a Christian foundation, she knew it was a sin to get pregnant out of wedlock. She was scared and didn’t know what to do.
Brandy claimed that everyone around her was trying to force her to get married, but she didn’t want to. She proposed that she just tell everyone that they’d already gotten married instead.
She confessed that it was the biggest mistake she had ever made and that the lie about being married was the fall of her career. Everything changed.
Of course, having her daughter was not something that she ever regretted, but she admitted that she should’ve come out with the truth from the start, instead of inventing a web of lies. She went on to claim that she just felt so lost at the time, so she ended up agreeing to follow her mum and her management team’s advice.
Sy’Rai Is Close with Both of Her Parents
According to People Magazine, Brandy and her daughter have a great relationship. The singer opened up to the outlet about how much she enjoys being a mom. She said, “My favorite thing about motherhood is seeing myself in my daughter and seeing each other in each other.”
She explained that their personalities were the same. They reportedly share so much of the same likes. Sy’rai loves music, and Brandy said she just loved seeing her grow into her own artist.
Now in her early 20s, Sy’rai is following in her mom’s footsteps and making her own music. She collaborated with Brandy for a song called High Heels, on her 7th studio album, B7, which came out in 2020. In 2023, the young artist released her first official solo single titled On My Own.
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People claimed that Sy’Rai also has a strong relationship with her father and that she gets along well with her stepmother and her five half-siblings. She often appears with them in many of the photos posted by Robert and his wife on their social media.
In a 2008 interview with Vibe magazine, Sy’Rai’s dad said that his relationship with Brandy was much better than it was in the past. He said: “You can’t be so mad at somebody who gave you that kind of a gift”
Robert went on to share that at the end of the day, he and his ex had a beautiful child, and he was the happiest man on earth. That was really the logistics of it. There was no drama.
