Tamar Braxton Talks Being Bullied Growing Up

Tamar Braxton recently opened up about being bullied while growing up.

Braxton, the 36-year-old singer-songwriter who recently released her album "Love & War", spoke about how being different while growing up made her the target for naysayers.

"I walked different, I had a different attitude, and I was picked on because I wasn't like everybody else," Braxton revealed to Flaunt magazine recently. "You have to accept that about yourself. I think especially for women it's important because it's so hard for us."

The singer has had her share of struggles accepting herself and even fell victim to an abusive relationship at one point.

"I almost had to tell my story to each individual and then I decided that's not what I'm going to do. I can't make anybody believe, I can't change anybody's mind about anything," Braxton told EBONY magazine. "(The abuse,) it happened. I'm not all the way comfortable with sharing a lot of what happened to me (yet), but what I said was true."

Although Braxton admitted that she's not ready to speak in detail about her abusive relationship, she did admit that God helped her overcome it.

"When I'm ready to talk about my abusive past I will, I'm sorry that I'm not," she told EBONY. "But if it wasn't for (God), I wouldn't be here."

While many people know Braxton to be vocal about her feelings on her reality television shows "Braxton Family Values" and "Tamar & Vince," the singer revealed that she has not always been this way. In fact, the boisterous singer admitted that she was once shy.

"(I was) a shy person who had self-esteem issues trying to figure it out -- now, I've gotten over my hangovers. You say, I'm comfortable and confident, it took a long time to get there," Braxton told EBONY. "Maybe like a year or so before Braxton Family Values, I wasn't that person. I was faking it til I make it, pretty much....."

Now, Braxton is sharing her tips for self-acceptance.

"If we just accept ourselves for who we are, it's so much more attractive and then other people notice," she told Flaunt. "Then they stop looking at you!"