In the latest issue of Rolling Out Magazine, Tami Roman talks about the “total” person that the “BBW” producers don’t show on tv. She opens up about who she is “off camera” and how she wants to use her platform on reality tv to make a difference. Then she shows her vulnerable side and talks about the many financial hardships she faced as a single mother of two girls. See the highlights below:
On why she joined “Basketball Wives?”
Well, I watched the first season of “Basketball Wives” and just felt like the things that I was going through weren’t really represented on the show. I had been a basketball wife, and now that I was divorced, things weren’t as golden as they portrayed on the show. I wasn’t eating out and getting manicures every day … and I wasn’t drinking all night, every night. That wasn’t my world, so for me, I felt like my individual story would be valuable.
You’re a television veteran, but were you prepared for the real-time responses and criticisms that celebrities now experience with social media?
When I did the “Real World,” we didn’t have Facebook, Twitter, or blogs, so I didn’t really know how people felt about the things that I did, [unless] they took the time to write a fan letter. So social media is very new to me, and it’s something I had to get used to because people will criticize you, judge you and lash out at you. People will feel like that can say anything to you and you’re just supposed to take it. I haven’t always done that because I’m a human being with feelings. So if you hurt me or my loved ones, I’m going to address it accordingly. I realize now that I can’t do that though, I can’t curse out every person who doesn’t like me on Twitter.
Do you feel like the producers have done a good job portraying you?
I think that the producers have done a fantastic job of blowing out of proportion one aspect of my personality. Now I’m not going to say that it’s the editing, and I’m not going to try and blame it on anything else, because Tami will go off on you [laughs] … that is a part of my personality. Whether you like it or not, I’m going to tell you the truth because I feel like everybody should be able to deal with the truth. That way, you can know what you’re dealing with. I’ve always been a big fan of that, of honesty and loyalty. So while what you see on TV is a part of my personality, it’s not all of who I am. I think that the audience who watches “Basketball Wives” is only seeing that aspect of my personality 100 percent magnified. They don’t see me working with my charity, and they didn’t see me when I was a part of corporate America going to work in a business suit every day. And they don’t see me with my mother, or me with my dude. There’s so much about me that you don’t see because that’s not what “Basketball Wives” wants to show.
-For more on this interview and too see the photos from the spread, click HERE:
*Courtesy of theybf.com
