Toni Braxton reveals her 'shame' at abortion before 2001 wedding and fear that youngest son's autism was a 'punishment' for her actions

Published: 16:46 EST, 18 May 2014 | Updated: 16:54 EST, 18 May 2014

View
comments

She has two children Denim, 12 and 11-year-old Diezel but now Toni Braxton has revealed she had a secret abortion before they were born.

The 46-year-old singer fell pregnant with her then-boyfriend, (now ex-husband) Keri Lewis' child before they married in April 2001 and decided to terminate the baby as she was taking Accutane, a prescription acne treatment which can have serious side-effects for unborn babies.

And while Toni tells Entertainment Tonight 'I am more ashamed of myself for doing that', in a new interview airing on Monday, she admitted in her autobiography that she would have had the abortion anyway. But she was left devastated when her second son was diagnosed with autism and believed she was being punished for terminating her pregnancy.

Scroll down for video

Emotional: Toni Braxton reveals all about her secret abortion in a new interview on Entertainment Tonight

Shame: Toni Braxton has admitted that she had an abortion before her 2001 wedding and opened up about feeling ashamed of what she did

The New York Daily News quotes Braxton in her Unbreak My Heart autobiography where she wrote 'Is God punishing me for that abortion?'.

She added that she 'believed that God’s payback was to give my son autism.'

And for weeks after the abortion, she was full of guilt over what she had done.

Last July, Braxton officially ended her 12-year marriage with the father of her two sons.

The Unbreak My Heart performer admitted said in her VH1 Behind the Music special in 2012 that the split with Lewis in 2009 took a toll on her.

'I had to figure out a plan for my life that had nothing to do with him,' she said.

Punishment? Toni admitted she worried she was being punished for the abortion when her second son Diezel was diagnosed with autism

'I was angry with everybody. I couldn't believe this was happening to me. I felt that I was a person dealing with a lot of struggles and here comes another one.'

The singer has endured trouble times in recent years.

In 2010 she was diagnosed with lupus while she has had to battle financial problems, filing for bankruptcy twice.

She also settled a bankruptcy case last year after claiming she had run up debts of between $10million and $50million.

Split: Toni and Keri Lewis split in 2009 (the same year as this picture was taken) and finalised their divorce last year

Braxton, who filed for Chapter 7 in 2010, agreed to pay $150,000 to settle the case, according to TMZ.

The singer previously filed for bankruptcy in 1998 for debts of $3.9million.

However, things are looking up and it's been a successful few months for the singer who released her smash hit collaboration album: Love, Marriage & Divorce, with fellow Grammy winner Kenny Babyface Edmonds.

The pair also completed a stint on the Broadway show After Midnight which came to an end in March.

Earlier this year, Toni also announced the release of Unbreak My Heart: A Memoir set to hit stores on May 20.