Teyana Taylor and her beautiful family are on the cover of this month’s Ebony Magazine talking about family life and raising two young girls.
According to Ebony, their editorial is in first-person format with Teyana and Iman getting even more personal than ever.
Both share intimate details on Teyana’s health challenges after childbirth, their unique family dynamic, the viral TikTok video that went too far, and the legacy they hope to leave their children.
About Junie
“She sees her mom do a lot of things that are just bold.
Whether it’s in fashion, whether it’s on stage, whether it’s in a quick snippet of an interview—it’s very bold and she watches her mom do it.
So, for her to even try and emulate that at such a young age, it’s our job to nurture that and to keep preaching that.
What I love most about being a girl dad is the consistency my daughters have in making sure that I don’t harden my heart.”—Iman
“She’s so fearless. Junie has inspired me—even as a woman—in so many ways.
I thought I was bold, but Junie is really just her parents, times three.
People say, ‘Oh yeah, she gets it from [her] parents.’
No, Junie is Junie, and she has sprinkles of us throughout.
She is one of a kind.
I love her power and fearlessness in being able to call me out like, ‘No, I’m not comfortable with this.
I don’t want to do that.
This is how it’s going to go down, mom.’ We let her express herself emotionally. We think that’s important.
If Junie wants to be an engineer, then a drummer or she wants to do ballet, and then tap, we will give her every little thing that she needs until she decides what she wants.
We allow her to do whatever it is that her heart desires.
And I think that’s what also keeps her respectful because sometimes when you hold on to kids too tight when they get older, they rebel.
Finding a great balance with children is very important.”—Teyana
Working With the Iconic Dionne Warwick
“We’re doing a scripted series [about her life].
She’s put a majority of the creativity in the hands of myself and [my production company]The Aunties, which is amazing. She’s like, ‘Tell me the plan— that’s what we’re doing.
I’m riding with you.’ Not only is she an icon, but she’s been in the game for so many decades. [I told her,] ‘I don’t see us being able to put all this greatness in just a movie.
So, how do we give you seasons?’ I then decided that it should be a TV series, and she was down with it.
So, we’re working on that.
The next step right now is finding a fantastic writer.
Because her whole story is written, she has these dope voice notes, so she’ll be narrating.
So that’s another thing that I’ve been focused on during my retirement.
It’s just been nothing but blessings.
The moment I wasn’t afraid to open the door, the moment I wasn’t afraid to turn the page.
I’ve been stuck in one box for so long when I had 10 other boxes lined up from jump street. I’ve been constantly told I couldn’t do it all, but I knew I could.”—Teyana
Mommy Duty While Working
“Mommy and Teyana are a 50/50 thing. My kids come everywhere with us.
They are actually the life of the party.
My photoshoots often become Junie’s shoot and Rue is usually somewhere stealing the show just because she’s cute as pie. My family brings joy to my work.” –Teyana
Iman, the Family Man
“People back home might be like, ‘Oh that’s L’Tanya’s son.’
If you’re a fan of my wife, then it’s ‘that’s Teyana’s husband.’
Or, it’s ‘that’s Junie’s dad.
That’s Rue’s daddy.
Look, he looks just like Rue. It’s always in association with my family.
I have 65-year-old women come up to me and say, ‘I just love you.
Ppl You’re a great dad—and boy, you can dance!’ Kids come up to me and tell me they watch our [reality] show, they have no clue that I even play ball.
I’m so many different people to everyone. But it’s cool.”—Iman
On the Rumors Following Teyana’s Hospitalization
These types of rumors and lies hurt the most because I take pride in being a mother and would never be that irresponsible.
I’ve never used drugs a day in my life, nor do I smoke, and only drink occasionally.
My health issues were never a secret, we actually outwardly shared them with the world on our reality tv show, We Got Love.
The show captured my health complications after my second pregnancy. I had to have emergency surgery in the middle of filming because there were small lumps found in my breast.
Fortunately, they were not cancerous. However, the thought of the cancer scare with the lumps in my breasts, and the thought of my kids not having me around, was scarier than childbirth.
Just the overall thought of something happening is one of my worst fears. So, for someone to take that and make it a joke is extremely hurtful.
It makes me emotional thinking about it. Both of my pregnancies were incredibly difficult because I had cholestasis, a rare liver disease that causes bile to build throughout the bloodstream, causing extreme itching and preterm and or stillborn birth.
This is the reason why both of my children delivered a month early.
Pregnancy in general puts your body through a lot of stress.
Being a mother in itself is a lot of stress. Although people look up to me for maintaining my career and still being able to be a mom and a wife, it’s really not easy.
Till this day I still struggle with postpartum depression.
Touring with two kids and doing 90-minute shows night after night on top of meet & greets right after, could cause anyone’s body to break down. That was simply what happened to me. Nothing more, nothing less.
Just because we are public figures, and whether we choose to have nannies or not, we enjoy having our children in our presence.
Straight off stage I’m in bed with my babies. There’s no room or energy to focus on anything else, besides jumping back into Mommy mode.
A sweet letter pinned to my fans in Connecticut turned into something very nasty and heartbreaking. I say that because my oldest, Junie, is coherent enough to understand TikTok, which is unnerving.
To read the comments on my page being flooded by people’s assumptions of me and my family and creating stories and scenarios that doesn’t exist and never have, I will ABSOLUTELY ALWAYS respond and protect the integrity of my family. Especially if lies are being told.”—Teyana
“If she did coke, why would I be cool with that? Why would I not care about my kids enough to say, “Yo, you can’t be around my kids?”
It’s disrespectful in so many ways that people don’t think through.
How would everyone just be cool with this lady doing this with two kids on a tour? Like, you think our kids wouldn’t see it?
You think no one would know that if someone was overdosing? Just the way it was broken down I’m like, bro, I cannot believe this is real.
Like we’re waking up to this. Like we’re really having a conversation about a TikTok?’ I don’t know where people get off.
I live a real life and that’s really my wife, these really are our kids, we really love each other, and we’re really going to go hard.” –Iman
Read the entire editorial here.
