Brandy reveals she contemplated suicide as she grappled with heartbreak and fatal car crash

Brandy Norwood has revealed she contemplated suicide in the aftermath of heartbreak and a fatal car crash.

The singer was 27 when she rear-ended a car on the freeway, resulting in the death of the driver.

Brandy was left in a dark place following the tragedy and series of personal heartbreaks, but changed course because of her daughter Sy’rai.  

‘I remember laying in bed super depressed,’ the 41-year-old said in an interview with People. ‘I [told] myself, “So, you’re just going to go out like this? That’s wack. You have a daughter. If you can’t do it for yourself, do it for her because this is not the way to leave a mark in her life.”‘ 

Brandy says she would not be here today if it was not for her daughter Sy’rai.

‘If Sy’rai wasn’t here, I wouldn’t be either,’ she said. ‘The place that I was in, it just felt like I wasn’t going to make it through.’

Brandy was never charged criminally for the 2006 car crash, but did settle out of court with the victim’s family.   

Brandy was an open book in her interview, where she admitted she was a ‘little bit lost eight years ago musically, creatively, and spiritually’, and how she began grappling with her image after achieving stardom in the 90s.   

Brandy says she felt trapped by the ‘perfect’ image the world knew her by.

But nowadays, Brandy is showing the world scars and all.

The singer is now releasing her first album in eight years, with songs focusing on her continued focus on mental health.

Brandy’s new album B7 includes the songs Bye BiPolar, and the video for her track Borderline shows her wearing a strait jacket inside a mental hospital.   

Brandy, who has not been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, wonders if she shared too much.

‘I was thinking, “Did I go too deep? Did I go too far in what I was singing about?” But I didn’t dwell on those thoughts.’

Now Brandy says she stays centered with the help of therapy, journaling, meditation and her faith.   

‘I’m in a place now where I can be proud of moving in the right direction.’

B7 was released on July 31, 2020, and while it marks the first time Brandy has released an album in eight years, the singer admits being famous and popular is no longer a priority. 

‘It’s not as fun as it used to be. Things have definitely changed but I’m blessed to still have the passion for music, and I definitely have a lot of love out there for me and I feel like I have a responsibility to inspire people and to bless people with music,’ she said in a recent interview with Ebro Darden on Apple Music. 

‘My want for fame and my want for popularity – that doesn’t satisfy me. Do I need people to notice me in Target? Do I need people to recognize me at Ralphs? I don’t have an ego in that way – I’m not addicted to fame. 

‘I know what fame did to me early on. I went through a lot,’ she continued.

‘It took me forever to complete this album, and to finally complete it after 8 years, it just felt like I was whole, and that this is something I can be proud of. I feel like I can breathe now,’ she said of recording and releasing her new album.