“Three little Black girls from the hood [became] the biggest and the best-selling girl group of all time in America and still hold that title, we did that and we still hold the torch,” said Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins, 53, in TLC’s new documentary, TLC Forever.
The two-hour special was the first time remaining members, Watkins and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas went in-depth about the influential, albeit controversial, career they’ve had to balance in the midst of a chaotic and emotionally trying personal life.
“No matter what we went through, we never questioned the love,” Chilli narrated in the 90-second trailer.
Within the documentary, the duo opened up about internal battles, future plans, accomplishing dreams that were 30 years in the making, surviving their obstacles, and still remaining on top. From their organic beginning, to them being seen as a cohesive unit, the ebb and flow of sustaining their legacy, and much more, here are the five moments we took away from TLC Forever.
The full documentary will be streaming on Lifetime and A+E after its June 3 premiere.
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TLC Was Initially Called Second Nature
Image Credit: Tim Roney/Getty Images When the trio was first formed with Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, and Crystal Jones, an A&R consultant named Ian Burke reflected on first calling the group Second Nature before they signed to Pebbles. It was then that their name was changed to TLC based on their initials.
Once Jones was removed from the group, she was replaced by Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas. Their nicknames were explained in their Ooooooohhh… On the TLC Tip intro. T-Boz’s nickname symbolizes her first name and “Boz” is slang for boss, meaning T-Boz is the boss. Left Eye jokingly means “I is right” while Chilli has “all the mucho sauce.”
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Chilli Is Behind TLC’s Look On Their Infamous November 1994 VIBE Cover
Image Credit: Dah Len “The thing that’s so crazy about it is that if one did something, all of us did something. If she burnt the house, we all burnt the house,” reflected T-Boz on the moment when Left Eye burned down Andre Rison’s house in June 1994. That October, she was required to pay a $10,000 fine and was sentenced five years’ probation. One month later, VIBE released the biggest issue of that year.
Its main cover line read, “TLC Fires It Up: Burning Up the Charts and Burning Down the House,” as the group wore firemen uniforms. Chilli was admittedly the mastermind behind the look.
“It was me. I don’t know what I was thinking. They clearly set us up,” she reflected. “Right? I mean, I don’t even know if they were thinking like maybe they’ll be cool with it or not. And I remember Tionne, Lisa was getting their makeup done and stuff, and I went, and I was looking at the clothes they had. They had policeman uniforms and the firemen. I was just like, ‘Ya’ll, we got to wear this. It’s so cool!’ And they’re crazy just like me, like, ‘Yeah, let’s all do it.’ And then, it was probably right before it came out, I’ll never forget this. I had this moment, I was like, ‘Wait a minute. Oh my gosh, we shouldn’t have done that.’ But it was too late. Oh man, I was so stressed out. I thought we were done.”
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TLC Thought News Of Left Eye’s Death Was One Of Her Pranks
Image Credit: Vinnie Zuffante/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images In September 2000, it was reported on MTV News that Left Eye had been missing for over a week. At the time, TLC was taking a break for personal endeavors. T-Boz had gotten married and Left Eye was set to release her solo debut, SuperNova. An Arista spokesperson revealed that the group was “very worried” at the time.
In the documentary, the women expressed that the rapper was known to pull such pranks. “At first, it didn’t hit me. She was missing for however long, but she was okay, and so I was hoping that that was one of those times,” Chilli explained. “When Bill was very serious and I could hear his voice was cracking, that’s when I knew.”
T-Boz added that Left Eye’s death “hit like a brick” and Chilli hysterically delivered the news over the phone.
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T-Boz’s Acoustic Neuroma Led To Partial Facial Paralysis And Hearing Loss
Image Credit: Ron Davis/Getty Images “First, Lisa dies. I’m going through a divorce, and now I have a brain tumor,” T-Boz remembered. Tearfully, she revealed being unaware, initially, about what exactly was happening with her health. “My prayer was that I wouldn’t be afraid and that I would get through it to be there for my kids, [Chance and Chase].”
Her doctors confirmed that she had an acoustic neuroma which went through her ear canal to her right cerebellum and sat atop her facial nerve, hearing nerve, and balance nerve. “He said, ‘In case something goes wrong and I can’t save either your hearing, your face or your balance, give me the order that you want to save yourself,’” she recalled of the prognosis.
“So, they took my balance. I saved my face for the most part and my hearing, I only 30% percent at the time,” she later explained. It took around four years for her to completely heal from the tumor.
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TLC Forever Means Glastonbury And Longevity
Image Credit: Ron Davis/Getty Images “In everybody’s eyes, your career is over,” said their manager of 25 years, Bill Diggins. Following Left Eye’s death and working in an industry that had written them off, TLC considered their 2014 Super Bowl Blitz performance to be their true comeback.
They had to discover a new normal and reignite their former spark, now as a duo. “I come to life onstage in a different way, especially next to her,” said Chilli of her eternal sisterhood with T-Boz.
When they got the call to perform at Glastonbury in 2022, T-Boz joked that she wanted to “run up the street butt naked, chile. Screaming in the streets.” Chilli added, “Glastonbury is the biggest festival in the world and it would our biggest show yet.” Throughout the documentary, fans got insight on their rehearsal process leading up to Glastonbury and their CrazySexyCool Tour, which they began prepping for during the pandemic.
“I feel like the greatest reward is when you don’t have the No. 1 song anymore and you’re able to sell out your tour. That means you have a great body of work that can stand the test of time and time has told us that we did good. We did alright,” Chilli happily concluded.
TLC will headline the Hot Summer Nights Tour this summer, alongside Shaggy and En Vogue.
