LIVING THE LIFE // Tanisha Thomas from 'Celebrity Fit Club'

Written by Shaleia R /// Find in Interviews

A native brooklynite and the woman who made ‘Bad Girls Club’ something to tune into on Tuesday nights, is back!!!!  She took control of a house and is now taking control of her weight by joining ‘Celebrity Fit Club’. She is a BUSINESS, woman!! We have seen her ‘Pop off’ but now it is time for a change. Her infectious laugh and no nonsense attitude have made her stand out among others. She has truly matured and come into herself and now it’s time to see what really makes her tick.

Empress: Before we discuss how you got your start to being one of the most noticeable “Bad Girls” reality TV stars, lets discuss ‘Celebrity Fit Club’. The recent pictures of you show your weight loss, and you look amazing. Has weight always been an issue for you?

Tanisha: Weight has always been an off and on thing throughout my life. I have never eaten healthy. I always ate what I wanted to eat. It’s crazy because I have this weird connection to food. I think it goes back to being a child. Not having my mom force me to eat veggies or talk to me about the food pyramid. She never told me eating badly could cause health issues. That was really never stressed to me, so I did what I wanted to do. So now it is hard for me. Imagine doing something for your whole life and having to change it, it’s a struggle.

Empress: How do you keep the weight off? Is it an everyday struggle? Like, “damn, there goes Popeye’s and I want it”. How did you gain self-control?

Tanisha: To keep the weight off I try to work out as much as I can. One thing I don’t do anymore is, eat in front of the television. I used to eat chips in front of the TV and before I knew it the whole bag was gone. Also, when I go to the supermarket I don’t go on an empty stomach. When you do that, you want everything.

I like my freedom; I like doing what I want to do. Everyone was nervous I would put back on the weight, but I didn’t. I am really proud of myself and I am making sure that doesn’t happen.

Empress: Can you share how much weight you lost?

Nooooo, I can’t, (a giggle), but what you can do is watch the show. I can share a story though. When I first came home from ‘Celebrity Fit Club’, my boyfriend walked past me in the airport.

Empress: So he didn’t recognize you?

Tanisha: Nope! I am walking and he is coming towards me. I have a whole bunch of bags because I am a diva so I travel with a lot and he walks right past me. I said “Its me”, when he realized it was me, he gave me a look I never saw before. Even on the way home, every time he looked at me he started blushing. He kept doing a double take, so the feeling I had from his reaction definitely motivates me. It lets me know I better stay on track. It was such an amazing feeling. I am definitely happy with the end result.

Empress: I am trying to lose weight like a few pounds but like you said it is hard. Do you have any advice for women trying to slim down?

Tanisha: You have to make the time. First things first, you have to make up your mind that you are done with bad eating habits, that this is it. You have to set a diet and exercise routine because at the end of the day if you don’t do it, you’re only cheating yourself. If you like to eat out then you have to go to the gym. You have to go extra hard to burn those calories.

There is no easy way and there are no short cuts. If you want to lose weight get on a diet and exercise. If there was an easy way to be loose weight, we would all be skinny; we wouldn’t be in this mess. Its tough but you just have to stick to it.

Empress: I saw the clip from ‘Celebrity Fit Club’ when you got upset and started screaming about your friend moving in with you and your fiancée and she ultimately got pregnant by him. From what I saw on the show it seemed like it was very traumatizing. Does that have an effect on your relationship with men and women?

But to answer your question, I was engaged really young. I left home when I was 15 and I got engaged around the age of 17. I was going to marry a guy I thought was my soul mate. I thought we were going to be together forever, things were great. I was with him when he had absolutely nothing. As time progessed he started to change, his life started getting better.

He ended up getting his own business and things just started to get a little bit crazy. We had a nice apartment in Brooklyn and one of my friends was going through a very abusive relationship. I went to visit her in the hospital and she almost died because her boyfriend tried to kill her. So I told her she had to stay with me. She was so grateful and she came to stay with me but little did I know, the two of them were messing around with each other.

I remember going out with my girlfriends and coming home and all his stuff was gone. She ended up having a baby by him. (cont'd)

So yes, it affects my relationships. I have MAJOR issues with trust. Even before that, I had trust issues. It has definitely affected my relationship with men and women. I really try my best not take it out on the person I am with now.

My boyfriend now DOESN”T see another woman at all, as far as I know. I don’t have those problems, having to question if he has a woman on the side, and guess what? IF he does, he is doing a damn good job by keeping her a secret because I don’t know about it. (laughter) At the end of the day that is all that matters. So I am happy.

I always leave room for a little disappointment because that is life.

Empress: Now on to how you got started in showbiz. I read that you wanted to be an actress. A lot of people go on reality TV to get exposure. How has it helped you?

Tanisha: At the end of the day I am one of the biggest business women you will probably ever meet. I am all about making money, and I’ve always been like that. I don’t think there is anyone out there who gets on television and doesn’t have a plan.

Everyone has his or her own reasons for going on TV. I felt like I was young, I wanted a place of belonging. My first reality show ‘The Bad Girls Club’ gave me a place where I could be me. So why not go to a place where I can really have fun and do what I wanted to do.

Empress: When you were on the “The Bad Girls Club” we all know the famous line “Pop Off Son” . The producers’ taped everything, filming is over and then you go home and watch yourself on TV, did you have any regrets?

Tanisha: I believe in standing behind whatever you say or do. There are definitely no regrets on my part.. Seeing myself on TV is always like WOW, my gosh. I don’t have any regrets because in life you learn lessons and you become wiser and that is it.

Empress: On reality shows most of the time there is one black woman, who is loud and gets aggressive really fast. Do you think they portrayed you correctly? Or they tried to portray you as the stereotypical black woman?

Tanisha: I don’t feel that they portrayed me in a bad way at all. Of course for television purposes they had to ‘amp’ up the show a bit. They capitalized on more of my crazy moments. At the end of the day that it only helped me. So I’m not mad at them.

Empress: How did your family react to the show?

Tanisha: My family knows that is me. When they watched the Bad Girls Club, they said ‘now the world has to see what we go through’. There were no surprises; I am exactly the way I am on TV.

Now, I have toned down a lot because I am a grown woman. It has been a few years since the show, although I still consider myself a Bad Girl, I like to think of myself as a woman who definitely progressed and has learned to think before acting. I love the transformation that I’ve made and am still making.

Empress: We have to backtrack a little; it seems you had a few friends with domestic violence issues. Do you think you would ever start a charity to help young women who are in abusive relationships?

Tanisha: I was actually talking to my cousin about that the other day. I would love to start a women empowerment group. To get women to talk about careers, being strong, being independent and making money.

I also think that black women need to support each other a lot more. All this hating stuff, like 'She doesn’t have anything on me’ type of issues, I don’t like that. At the end of the day we are all beautiful, smart, educated and sexy women. We need to really come together.

You know what, not just black women but women as a whole need to come together. There shouldn’t be any boundaries, because I have so many Italian, Jewish, and Russian friends. They are women and they will pop off too. (laughter). They don’t take any mess either.

So we all need to unite.