It’s indisputable that T.I. loves his family. The rapper may have come under heavy criticism over remarks he made about then-17-year-old daughter Deyjah Harris, comments that turned into “hymengate” on social media. T.I. and his family are set to address the controversy on this current season of T.I. & Tiny: Friends & Family Hustle, and in a recent interview, Zonnique Pullins admitted that the rapper often is more restrictive with his daughters than sons.

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On a recent episode of his reality show, T.I. was chatting with good friend Monica about one of her sons dating. She said she’s doing her best to not be “overbearing,” to which T.I. said boys tend to need space to learn how to do things on their own. In a confessional interview, T.I. said that he does feel an added responsibility to shelter his girls from getting their hearts broken.

“To be honest with you, I only feel the need to protect the girls from heartbreak. So for me, it’s about making sure that my daughters grow up as happy and unencumbered by outsiders tweaking their emotions as possible,” T.I. said. “That doesn’t mean that I don’t want my daughters to date or have experiences. It just means I know that they will hold onto those experiences and I don’t know how that will translate when they come out of it.” Watch the clip of T.I. & Tiny: Friends & Family Hustle below.

In recent weeks, Deyjah Harris has been speaking out about the struggles she’s been working through. The 18-year-old spoke at length in a YouTube video about her battle with mental health issues and suicidal thoughts, and fans will hear her address the scandal involving her father, T.I. in upcoming weeks. We all witnessed last Fall as T.I. visited the Ladies Like Us podcast and talked about the then-17-year-old’s gynecology appointments. The rapper said that he makes his daughter’s doctor check for her hymen to make sure she’s still a virgin, and soon the teen became the target of online trolls. 

Deyjah remained silent about the controversy and even shut down her social media page for a while, but now she’s back and ready to share her story. Reality television viewers will have to wait to see how that unfolds, but Tameka “Tiny” Harris caught up with Entertainment Tonight and shared that T.I.’s relationship with daughter Deyjah Harris is “really good.”

“You’re gonna see Tip going through some things with Deyjah,” Tiny told the outlet. “That is one of the biggest things our family had to deal with this season. It was a big deal. Their relationship is definitely much better now because Deyjah is a very bright girl. Her dad just wants to love on her, so any time he’s around her, he just can’t stop loving on her. They’ve been doing really good.”

“There’s a lot of conversation,” Tiny added. “A lot of talking, a lot of back-and-forth trying to figure out where the biggest problem was. And, understanding how she feels, where he was coming from and what he actually meant by whatever he said. There was no malicious ill intent in his reason for speaking on it. So, understanding that and her knowing that [helped] bridge the gap.”

Tiny also stated that because of the COVID-19 pandemic, T.I. hasn’t seen much of Deyjah in recent weeks. “We haven’t been able to see her because she’s been quarantined,” Tiny said. “We’ve seen all the kids, but her, only but once or twice.”

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The subject of mental health has become a hot topic in recent years as a growing number of people have shared their struggles on social media. There are new avenues of online and text therapy, and as we embark on this global quarantine, people are attempting to bring mental health to the forefront to help those who may be struggling with fear, loneliness, or lack of social connection. T.I.‘s 18-year-old daughter Deyjah Harris shared a video where she opened up about her own story.

“Transparently speaking, depression and anxiety is something that I’ve been dealing with since about the age of 11,” she said. “My self-esteem started to become an issue for me in the sixth grade due to bullying. I started to struggle with understanding what it was that I was feeling and I definitely knew that I wasn’t able to express what it was that I was going through.”

“So, without the proper knowledge and support, I eventually started to turn to self-inflicted coping mechanisms that weren’t too healthy or beneficial to me or my growth,” Deyjah added. The teen suggested that she’d had suicidal thoughts in the past before she took steps to heal. She also added that she wishes she could share the intimate details of her personal journey, but unfortunately she can’t because she doesn’t want people to mishandle her truth.

Watch Deyjah Harris talk about her mental health journey and encourage others in her video below.

The return of T.I. & Tiny: Friends & Family Hustle is upon us. As VH1 gears up for another season of the hit reality show on April 13, the network shared a brief teaser that highlights all of the drama. In the minute-long clip, viewers can see that Monica will be discussing more of her divorce from former NBA baller Shannon Brown. Toya Johnson will be addressing the trial of Antoine “Tweezy” Edwards, the man who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for murdering her two brothers 24-year-old Ryan “Rudy” Johnson, and 31-year-old Joshua Johnson.

However, fans are looking forward to hearing from T.I.’s 18-year-old daughter Deyjah Harris. Last year, the rapper was criticized for his comments about having Deyjah’s doctor check that her hymen was intact to make sure she was still a virgin. T.I. made the comments while on a podcast, and soon, the world was discussing the sex life of a minor and the controversy made many people uncomfortable.

The scandal resulted in Deyjah deleting her Instagram account, but soon she returned. Now, the teen is ready to tell her side of the story. “After all of this, it’s changed, honestly,” she said in the clip. Tiny added, “Tip has a way of taking things a little too far.” In another scene, T.I. seems to get defensive as he says, “Ain’t nobody gonna tell me how to raise my children.”

Check out the teaser below and see what you can expect from the explosive season of T.I. & Tiny: Friends & Family Hustle. 

The shocking and tragic death of Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, who is considered by many to be the greatest player of all time, has forced all of us to reconsider how we interact with our family members. Death, even that of somebody that we did not know personally, always gets us thinking about how finite our lives truly are. Anything can happen to anybody at any given moment. Kobe Bryant and Gianna Bryant are no longer with us and we’re sending all of our love and strength to Vanessa Bryant and her family at this time. Following his initial tribute post to the iconic hooper, Atlanta icon T.I. shared touching messages for his loved ones, singling out his wife Tiny Harris before penning heartfelt messages for his kids.

“I love you girls more than my vocabulary will allow me to express,” wrote Tip on social media, tagging Zonnique Pullins and Deyjah Harris. The rapper has had complicated histories with both of his girls, especially recently with hymen-gate, which had Deyjah humiliated in national headlines. “You have grown so much right before my very eyes & blossomed into strong, brilliantly opinionated, independent young women. I’m so proud of you both and I love you to no end, more than you’ll ever know. Please forgive me for any and all imperfections that cause misunderstandings between us…”

In a follow-up message, T.I. showed love to his sons. Clearly, he took this devastating moment as a wake-up call that he should be spending each moment of his life caring for his family because, at the end of the day, anything can happen.