Behind the scenes: TLC and former manager/mentor Pebbles discuss details of their tumultuous relationship openly

There’s been a lot of rumbling across the Internet and throughout social media since the airing of the VH1 bio-doc CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story last month (if you missed it, click here). Much of the ruckus has to deal with the disparaging treatment that Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins, Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas and the late Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes alleged they endured while under the management of R&B-pop singer/entrepreneur Perri “Pebbles” Reid (and to a certain extent, L.A. Reid). Inside the film, Pebbles is portrayed as being a greedy CEO who compensated TLC with used vehicles and offered very little of an allowance. Her excuse was that most of the money went back into the budget for touring, future albums, marketing and publicity. Once the visuals of altered Instagram-ready posts started to surface from the show’s audience (see images below), the conversation exploded across the divide of mews media.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the biographical film aired (with 4.5 million viewers, a five-year ratings increase for VH1), Pebbles (Reid) took to Twitter to air her defense of how the documentary unfairly categorized her. On October 15, Reid’s Twitter account stayed lit with replies to all the sudden backlash. “Lawyer up,” she posted on Twitter before ranting out loud. “I’m NOT here to promote something I put on the MAP and yet have been disrespected by because of more reasons than one! Lawyers on deck. I would say being lied on 4 as long &trying to continue to is sadder. But,the continued slander from all will help prove just what was done.”

Pebbles decided to lean back from the conversation by tweeting the following: “I am in shock listening to all this mess and lies on this radio interview!!This is madness!!! It’s SO hard to believe this! DO NOT believe.”

She went on to post her benediction from the conversation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As Pebbles now goes on the defense and the surviving members of TLC continue to tell their story (and push onward with new music), the curious remains bewildered over all the accusations and are trying to establish what the real truth is in their told stories.

What we do know to be true is that TLC’s financial troubles spurred them to abruptly end their deal with Pebbles and her company. According to the Nancy Krulik book Lisa Lopes: The Life of a Supernova, the three members of TLC eventually filed bankruptcy, revealing in court papers that they had less than one million dollars in assets and owed more than 3.5 million. Much of the debt was occurred by Lisa Lopes, who was sued by the insurance company Lloyds of London for her contribution of arson on the Atlanta home she shared with NFL star and ex-boyfriend Andre Rison. The girls consistently claimed that the contracts that connected them to Pebbles and Savvy Records were meant to keep them “subservient” and that they eventually paid her for the ownership of the name – a million dollars a letter.

Earlier this year, Pebbles published an “uncut” interview made by CBS Atlanta, with reporting by JaQuitta Williams, on her YouTube account. Since the airing of the documentary, the comments’ section of that same video has been tortured with unpopular feedback against Pebbles.

Pebbles, who is now a born again Christian and claims to live a quiet, humble life, has now been forced to come out of a coma of silence to fight these troubling accusations. She plans to tell her side of the story on The Wendy Williams Show this Wednesday.

Also, in case you missed it, check up on the commentary coming from Pebbles’ daughter Ashley Reid, who lamented on behalf of her mother using a bit of Richie Incognito texting skills against the surviving members of TLC, especially when she exposed her intent to place bodily harm on Chilli.

“When I said on Twitter, Chilli I can’t wait to see you what I meant by that was I can’t wait to see you to beat your f*cking face into the concrete.”

And then things really turned nasty:

“I’m not gonna talk about Chilli (on) my father’s d*ck or most of the d*cks in the industry in the 90′s…That has nothing to do with the fact that she is a lying person, I won’t even call her a wh0re anymore. She’s claimed that we got it.”

UPDATE:
(11.13.13 / 2:34 p.m.) 

On Wednesday, Pebbles spoke with Wendy Williams about her true feelings about the VH1-aired bio-pic on TLC. Typiacal for the talk-show queen, she asked all the hardball questions. Many of the questions Pebbles wrote off by saying that many of them could not be answered due to confidentiality agreements made in court. She did allude to her preparations of a tell-all book and mentioned several times that possibly legal action towards TLC and VH1 was “on the table.” The talk show host also addressed the troubling threats made by Ashley Reid towards Chilli. When questioned about her choice of words, Ashley – who was in the audience – said, “If I’m 30, I’m not allowed to be passionate?” Wearing her motherly figure hat, Pebbles replied, “We don’t do beatdowns.”

Watch the exclusive ten-minute interview below.

So what do you think?
Do you think the TLC Story was unfair in describing Pebbles?
Do you believe Pebbles side of the story?
Do you think there’s more to the story than meets the eye?
Share your thoughts.