Teyana Taylor and her NBA baller husband, Iman Shumpert, have been chosen to don the cover of this month’s issue of EBONY magazine.
The couple tied the knot in 2016. They share two daughters, Junie and Rue and continue to add to their long list of talents.
“We have so much talent; so many people get caught up just doing one thing because they feel like that’s their destiny. This is it. I’ve never been that kind of person. I’ve always occupied my mind with other things that I knew that I was talented at, and right now I really love directing,” Taylor tells the publication.
Taylor retired from music in 2020. However, she has stayed booked and busy. She is focusing her efforts on spending more time on camera.
“Directing has been a major dream of mine for the longest, which at one point I put to the back burner. I put my acting to the back burner because I thought that the singing was just my destiny and that’s what I was supposed to do and that was it. So now, I’m enjoying styling artists, and choreographing, and directing, and helping other creatives that are like me.”
In February, a TikTok video alleged the singer was rushed to the hospital because she learned her Shumpert had cheated on her, before she was discovered on a bathroom floor after having “too much candy.”
Taylor candidly spoke about the unfounded reports with the outlet. In August, she shared that she underwent surgery to remove lumps from her breasts.
Black women face disproportionate exposure to breast carcinogens and are at a higher risk of facing severe health impacts from the disease. The mortality rate for Black women diagnosed with breast cancer is 42% higher than the comparable rate for white women, despite the incident rate being very similar.
“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, she explained.
“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.”
Click here to read the full interview.
