When Toni Braxton married Mint Condition’s then keyboardist, Keri Lewis, in 2001, it seemed like the fairytale wedding. As fans glanced at photos of their Atlanta wedding in magazines and such, little did we know, there was a lot of drama behind the scenes of the fairytale ceremony.
Keri and Toni’s marriage technically lasted for 13 years, but they separated by the 8 year mark in 2009. After separating, it seemed like there was hope for reconciliation, because they took hella long to go through with their divorce – 4 more years to be exact- and they were still very close. But they decided to make their divorce official in 2013. Now that they’ve moved on with their lives, new details behind some of the drama that took place behind the scenes have surfaced.
For years, there had been whispers that Keri’s former band members were pissed off when Keri married Toni Braxton. Now, Mint Condition’s lead singer, Stokley Williams, has confirmed that the group members were so heated, that all of them (except Stokley) refused to attend Toni’s and Keri’s wedding. They weren’t being petty for no reason though, after hearing what Stokley revealed, they had a good reason to be.
In an interview with Vlad TV, Stokley revealed that Keri and Toni B. met when they were an opening act for her back in the day. Everything was all good, until a short while later, Keri told them he’d fallen in love with Toni and therefore was saying ‘Peace out’ to the group…forever. Wow…Ms. Braxton must be a helluva woman to make a brotha decide to give up his ENTIRE career, just sayin.’
Anywho, not only did Keri’s sudden departure sting his group members -because they were like family and felt betrayed- it also briefly affected the fate of the group’s future. According to Stokley, after Keri split quicker than we could say “Unbreak my heart,” it caused Mint Condition’s signature live band sound to change.
Their fans apparently didn’t adapt as quickly to that change and it showed in record sales at that time. Therefore, their outrage was understandable, because y’all already know- family or not- when somebody messes with one’s livelihood, it does NOT sit too well in one’s soul. In fact, it’ll make a person wanna reach out and touch somebody- and not in the way that Diana meant it.
After all of the drama, Stokley ended up attending the wedding because he still wanted to represent for his Mint Condition brotha on his big day.
These days, we’re not sure if the other Mint Condition members have completely forgiven Keri Lewis after kicking them to the curb for Toni Braxton. However, now that Keri and Toni are divorced, I wonder if Keri now regrets giving up everything for his ex. One thing’s for sure, Toni is happy and crazy in love with her fiancé Birdman, so there probably are no regrets on her end.
