Who Is Birdman? New Details About The Rapper Who's Engaged To Toni Braxton
They're still going strong, despite reports.
Despite what the gossip mill might have you believe, Toni Braxton and her fiancé Birdman are still going strong.
Previous reports and rumors had claimed that Braxton, 51 and Birdman, 50, had ended their engagement over the New Year's holiday. The rapper recently cleared the air — with a not very clear answer at first — on what's really going on with the couple during an interview with Wendy Williams on March 29.
"I’m really, really upset, because I was invested in believing in your love with Toni. Then I found out that you broke her heart and I didn’t know what to do,” Williams told him.
"Where did you hear that?" he asked the talk show host, who asked him if Braxton was single. Birdman questioned where Williams got her information — to which she replied "Social media I guess" and he told her he had no idea how these rumors started.
“Me, personally, I’ve never been a man that put energy into social media. It was fake,” he said. “I don’t even know how this sh-t took place. I would never be a man to bring my things to social media.”
So who is Birdman and what is going on with his relationship with Toni Braxton? Here's everything we know.
1. They both posted cryptic social media messages.
The whole reason the New Year's rumors started was because of Birdman.
On New Years Day, he posted "it's over" on Instagram and then subsequently deleted it — and all of the photos on his feed. Which is strange on its own, but got even stranger when Braxton followed suit and deleted all of her photos too.
Except for one, which was a glam shot of herself alongside the caption: “Starting a new chapter isn’t always an easy choice…but ALWAYS choose to be chosen. Cheers to a new year."
It's easy to see why fans jumped to the conclusion that they called it quits.
2. Then he surprised her on stage.
Between the awkward social media silence and the numerous reports that the couple had broken up, fans were all but ready to give up on their favorite celebrity duo when Birdman did the unthinkable.
Three weeks after the breakup rumors, he surprised Braxton on stage during the middle of her set and hugged her. She took his hand and led him offstage so the two could share a moment alone together.
It was very sweet.
3. Braxton had lost her ring.
Before this whole breakup rumor mess, Braxton had lost her huge diamond engagement ring in November 2018. Birdman told Williams that Braxton confessed about the missing ring a week after it happened.
“She told me the situation that happened with the airport. It was in her luggage or something at the airport and the bag was left,” he said.
“Why was she not wearing her ring at the airport?” Willams pressed. Birdman said he wondered that too, but that "it is what it is," shedding no stress over the situation.
“We’ll buy another one,” he said, adding that he would always take care of Braxton, who Wendy says is "not too good with money herself."
“If she had and will have any problems, I have enough money where she’ll never have a problem."
4. They've been together for a few years.
Braxton and Birdman were together for two years before they got engaged. While it's not clear when or how the rapper asked her to marry him, Braxton let the public know that she was engaged via Twitter in February 2018.
They had previously been private about their romance until they attended the BET Awards together in 2016.
5. Her family loves him.
Braxton's mother, Evelyn Braxton, spoke about Birdman, who was a longtime friend and collaborator of Braxton's before they got together.
"I think he is a nice man," she said in 2016. "I don't care what others say about him. He is a nice man. He is full of respect. Ever since I've been knowing that man, he's been phenomenal."
Braxton and Birdman first met in 2002 while they were working on the song "Baby You Can Do It."
Emily Blackwood is a writer and editor living in California. She covers all things news, pop culture and true crime.