[INTERVIEW] Brooke Bailey On Leaving ‘Basketball Wives LA’, Starting Fresh & Her Biggest Fear

Watch the full interview below.
Part 1

Part 2

Check out a few excerpts of our conversation.

Jasmine Brand: Okay, my first question; and I think a lot of people want to know: (your fans and reality TV junkies) what happened to you on Basketball Wives. We saw the and I think we had heard that you quit and then we heard that you were fired and then we heard a number of things, so what happened?!

Brooke Bailey: Draya got me fired and all of this stuff. We are all casted, so at the end of the day, no one has the power to fire someone. No, that didn’t happen. I just felt like that wasn’t the place for me.  I have done reality television before; I have worked in the industry for almost a decade now and sometimes things don’t fit and that just wasn’t the right fit for me. I didn’t want to be the negative person on television. I do have children and I have a daughter that is going to be 17, going to college and there is just a little bit more of my life that I felt like wasn’t shown and I want that to be shown in a more positive light; not just for my children but for myself as well. Basketball Wives was great but it wasn’t for me.

Jasmine Brand: Do you still speak to any of the ladies on the show?

Brooke Bailey: I’m still cool with Laura and Gloria. We don’t talk all the time but we see each other at events. Everybody is kind of doing their own thing and that is about it.

Jasmine Brand: What about Jackie? 

Brooke Bailey: Me and Jackie are cool. We don’t talk or hangout but we don’t have any beef. When we had that fight, it was kind of like I was defending Draya a little bit. It was a little bit of this and a little bit of that but at the end of the day, we talked about it and it was just stupid. But, it was good TV.

Jasmine Brand: It was fantastic TV. I feel bad saying that! Have you spoke to Draya since you stopped filming?

Brooke Bailey: Yeah, no. We haven’t spoken. I don’t think we’ve even been in the same room together.  

Jasmine Brand: I know you have shared this with me before: you have been married before.

Brooke Bailey: Yes. I have been married twice.

Jasmine Brand: Are you over with the marriage thing or are you will give it another good ole college try.

Brooke Bailey: The next person that’s with me, like if you eff with me, you’re stuck with me. That’s it. The first time I got married I was like 20 and the second time I got married, I knew I should not have been marrying him but I was like, “I’m going to do it for my kids,” which was the wrong decision. I did that and it didn’t work out but I knew that when I was getting myself into it that it wasn’t the right thing to do and I was in my early 20’s then too. I was just like let me chill and focus on me and get myself together to figure out what it is that I want to do and then two, I was going hard in my career so I really didn’t have time to have someone that I really wanted to settle down with. I wasn’t really looking for that. I was like, let me go hard, make my money, take care of my kids. I dated here and there because I am still a woman and I have emotions and I still want to have some adult attention but at the end of the day, I was not looking for anything serious.

Jasmine Brand: Professionally, you are no longer doing Basketball Wives and I know that you are doing a whole bunch of other things. What gave you the courage to say that you want to hop back in the classroom?

Brooke Bailey: That was a lot. It took a lot of courage to do that because everything ran through my mind like, “oh my god what is the public going to think or students; how are they going to react?” In the beginning when I first started back in school, I had to apologize to my professors. I was like, “I am sorry. I am sorry they want to take pictures, I am sorry they want to talk about the show.” But after a couple of weeks, everyone got over it but like I said, I wanted to do something different with my life and the only way to do that is to change what I am doing to get different results. So I was like, I’m going back to school. I am going to get my bachelors degree and that is what I am doing and it has been really good. I have hustled really, really hard for the last year to be able to financially do it and still be able to take care of my kids and my family without a worry. I can’t work as much because I am trying to get A’s. The more A’s I get, the better it looks on my transcript and I feel like when I am going to school, that is my job. If I get A’s, I feel like I get top dollar.

Jasmine Brand: Also, you have this new cleanse.

Brooke Bailey: Yes. Everyone that follows me, like my fans and supporters, for the last decade, I also cleanse like twice a year. The cleanse that I was doing, a lot of people would chime in and do it with me. They wouldn’t last as long – it is a minimum of 10 days; it was really hard. You are not able to eat and do a lot of things and you have to stay close to the bathroom, so a lot of people weren’t able to do it. So, now I came up with a cleanse with a group of herbalists that are really great.  They helped me come up with my own cleanse called “My Life Cleanse.” I came up with “My Life Cleanse” because I feel like I have cleansed my life, spiritually, mentally, and physically. I think that is really important when you are cleansing; you have to really know why you are doing it. Are you doing it for a healthier life style? To lose weight? Do you have some type of diabetes? Are you diabetic? What is the problem? Kidneys? Liver? I lived a rock star lifestyle, working in the industry, so I knew that I needed to maintain my looks and my body. I needed to do things. I needed to cleanse. I needed to come back mentally and physically. I needed to get the alcohol out of my system and the club out of my mind. So I was like, “this is going to be called My Life Cleanse.” It is a 10 day cleanse and is a tad bit easier because you can have raw vegetables and fruits. The difference between my cleanse and a lot of other herbal cleanses is that a lot of other herbal cleanses have gelatin capsules and mine are vegetarian. It is really healthy. I am really excited about it. It is great. I was going to launch the lingerie, which I am still going to do, it just took longer because I had a parent company that I was working with that fell through so then I was left to do everything myself; which is fine because I would much rather do everything myself because I have a lot more control but that is still not my biggest passion. Because I have been cleansing and taking herbs since I was 17, people are always like, “your skin is great or you stay in shape.” I am not a workout-aholic; I am not always in the gym, but I always take care of myself. I believe that if you don’t feel good on the inside, then it is not going to show on the outside. This cleanse is like my baby and I am so excited about it and I have more products to come like hair, skin, and nail vitamins. I am going to add to my line in a few months and I hope everyone enjoys it because I am excited.

Jasmine Brand: Now I think you talked about this on the show a little bit: the lingerie line. Can you just update me again on what happened? Is it still coming out?

Brooke Bailey: The lingerie line is called “Toiche Moi,” which means touch me in French. I thought that was a perfect fit. I introduced it on the show because it is something that I do want to do. I did have a parent company that I was working with. The deal fell through on their end, which is fine but it left me holding the bag. I was like, “Okay, now I have to be the person, the CEO, and do everything from the beginning to the end”. When you are putting a product out, you don’t just want to put anything out. I don’t want people to just to buy anything or just because it has my name on it. I want it to be something that I really, truly believe in; something that I want to wear and something that people really love. I don’t want you to wash it and it falls apart in the washing machine. It has been taking a little more time than what I actually thought it would, which is fine because when it comes out, everyone will love it. I am excited.

Jasmine Brand: Perfect. Before I let you go, I want to ask some random, general questions. Would you ever consider doing reality TV again?

Brooke Bailey: I definitely would do reality television again. It just has to be something that, well, I don’t want to be on television fighting, obviously. I know it is entertainment and I know you have to have some drama for people to tune in and watch, but that is not what I want to do. That is easy. I try not to fight regularly, especially because I get paid to do it. I don’t want to do that. I want something that fits me. Everyone always asks, “Are you guys ever going to come back with Candy Girls because it was a really good show.” I have actually been talking to a lot of producers and stuff about it because now I am in a position where it is greater and there are a lot of girls out there that inspire to do what I have done from the beginning and I would love to be able to give them a shot.

Jasmine Brand: When is the last time you got into a fight? A fist fight.

Brooke Bailey: Jackie. Jackie was the last fist fight that I had.

Jasmine Brand: What is your biggest fear? 

Brooke Bailey: I have never had my heart broken; never ever in life. I think my biggest fear is that. That has been a battle for me too because it is like, I am in a new situation and I am trying not to be guarded but it is hard.

For all things Brooke Bailey, follow her on Twitter @BrookeBaileyInc or visit her web site.

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