Christopher Polk/Getty Images for The Critics' Choice Awards
Mary J. Blige is getting transparent about her previous financial ordeals. According to HipHopDX, the 52-year-old appeared at her second annual Strength of a Woman festival this past weekend and recalled owing millions to the IRS during her marriage to Kendu Isaacs.
During a panel at the event, Blige spoke about previously owing the IRS “so much money” she thought she’d never “get out of debt.”
“Speaking of taxes, I owed so much money I never thought I’d ever get out of debt…”
Blige then divulged that she “owed hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes.”
“I’m out of debt now, but I mean, I owed hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes…”
Additionally, the singer explained that the ordeal caused her to manage her finances differently moving forward.
“Now I have the wisdom. Now I look at my payroll; that’s not my money. My taxes are not my money … so I’m like, ‘Pay my payroll, pay my taxes, pay my ties,’ all of that money I don’t even wanna see it because it doesn’t belong to me.”
Blige then went on to explain that although she was aware of how her money should have been handled during that period, her funds were being controlled by her ex-husband and former manager Kendu Isaacs.
“And that’s how I was moving, period. I was moving like that period, but no one listened to me. When I was married, I was like, ‘Pay my taxes, pay my ties,’ but they didn’t listen to me. He was in control of everything.”
HipHopDX shared a clip of Blige expressing her sentiments via Twitter.
As The Shade Room previously reported, Blige and Isaacs finalized their divorce in 2018. The singer reportedly filed the motion in July 2016 after cheating allegations surfaced of Isaac.
Additionally, Blige was ordered to pay $30,000 a month to Isaac as temporary spousal support during the proceedings. Blige publicly remarked on the order explaining, “How is it that somebody gets to cheat and destroy everybody’s life, but I’ve got to pay for it? That ain’t fair!”
Isaacs, however, followed up by requesting $65,000 a month from Blige. While further alleging that their divorce proceedings landed him in the hospital, as per The Shade Room.
The divorce proceedings followed their marriage of about 12 years.
