T.I. Says He’s ‘Incredibly Apologetic’ to Daughter After Comments About Her Virginity
T.I. is setting the record straight following the major backlash and criticism he got for making insensitive comments about his 18-year-old daughter Deyjah’s virginity.
On Monday’s episode of Red Table Talk, the rapper, 39, sat down with Jada Pinkett Smith to address comments he made on a recent episode of the Ladies Like Us podcast, which has since been deleted. In the episode he spoke about making “yearly trips to the gynecologist” in order to check on the status of his daughter’s virginity.
“I came to clear up any misconceptions that have been surrounding how we interact and parent and what is appropriate and inappropriate,” he began, describing the conversation he had as “very joking.”
“From a place of truth, I began to embellish and exaggerate and I think a lot of people took it extremely literal,” he added, explaining that while at the time he didn’t understand the sensitivities surrounding what he was speaking about, he “absolutely” does now.
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T.I. went on to clarify that the visits to the gynecologist were made when his daughter was younger, and that neither his daughter nor her mother, singer Ms. Niko, had “any” objection about him being there at the time.
“She did have a problem with me talking about it however, and I understand that, and I am incredibly apologetic to her for that,” he said. “She understands my intentions and she knows who I am, who I’ve always been.”
As for why he waited several weeks to publicly address the situation, the rapper said that initially, his daughter had asked him to stay silent.
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“My daughter said just let it go, don’t say nothing, just let it go and I did — until l I had different directives,” he said. “I would not be here today had I not had those different directives. I’d still be sitting in silence.”
As the episode continued, T.I. spoke about how his comments didn’t come from a place of trying to control his daughter.
“I am here to protect all of the children from themselves until they make it to a point where they have awareness, a sense of self and discernment to be able to make certain decisions on their own that will impact their lives indefinitely,” he said. “I’m not there to protect necessarily virginity, I just know that is a big move.”
“That’s different — that’s education,” Pinkett Smith noted.
Ahead of the episode’s release, Pinkett Smith told PEOPLE that she was “proud” of the episode.
“It was an exceptional show and I’m proud of it,” she said.
Red Table Talks airs Mondays on Facebook Watch.
