Toni Braxton reveals she got an abortion while dating ex-husband Keri Lewis
When Toni Braxton’s youngest son was diagnosed with autism in 2006, the Grammy-winner said she immediately thought it was her punishment for a decision she made years before: While dating eventual husband Keri Lewis and taking an Accutane prescription, Toni discovered she was pregnant. Sadly, the acne medication can cause extreme birth defects.
“I was suddenly faced with a choice I’d never thought I’d have to make,” Toni wrote in her new memoir, Unbreak My Heart, Radar Online reports. “Amid my major misgivings about abortion, I eventually made the gut-wrenching decision… In my heart, I believed I had taken a life — an action that I thought God might one day punish me for.”
Although her six-month medication course was the main reason she got an abortion, The New York Daily News adds Toni said she made the decision mostly out of convenience rather than genuine fear for her unborn child’s health.
Toni Braxton and Keri Lewis. They divorced in 2013.
Toni went on to marry Keri and they had two sons together. However, she felt like her past was catching up to her when younger son Diezel was diagnosed with autism when he was 3 years old.
“My initial rage was quickly followed by another strong emotion: guilt,” Toni said. “I knew I’d taken a life… I believed God’s payback was to give my son autism.”
With an early treatment, Diezel is now thriving. But, Toni continued to believe struggles in her life — such as her lupus diagnosis and her parents’ messy divorce — were punishments for her action.
