Christina Milian is ready to take on the music world once again and this time she is letting us join her for the ride.
In her new reality series “Christina Milian Turned Up” on E! we will get an inside look at her personal life, professional life and see just how this talented star works hard for what she wants.
Born in New Jersey to Cuban parents, she had and has that fiery Latina spark in her eyes that makes her unique. From an early age Christina, or “Tina” as her family calls her, fought and worked hard to make her dreams come true. The Grammy nominated singer struck gold with hits like “AM to PM,” “Whatever U Want,” and “Dip It Low” and made us fall in love with films like “Love Don’t Cost a Thing” and “Bring It On: Fight to the Finish.”
Of course there always comes a time when a star has to turn her lights down, let life happen and put her dreams on the back burner. The birth of her first child, daughter Violet, in 2010 made Christina take a break and focus on her baby girl.
But now with a fire that runs deep, Christina is getting back in the studio, doing things her way and letting us be part of her family.
In “Turned Up” we will meet her sisters, Danielle and Lizzy, and her momager, Carmen, as well as get to know more about Christina and her journey.
I had the opportunity to sit down and chat with the singer about what we can look forward to in the series and even what she learned about her family. We even discussed the moment she met her idol Janet Jackson at the MTV studios and, “cried for two whole hours. Tears of happiness.”
But why is now the perfect time to have a reality show? Christina lets us know.
“Doing it now, it felt like it was time to have an outlet and to let my fans know the real me. There is always room for speculation and people are already going to say whatever they want, write stories and make up stuff, and sometimes you don’t have the option, and even when you do and you do an interview [sometimes] they don’t read it the way that it is really told,” confessed the singer. “Now they get to see [my real life] and they’ll get to relate to it and get it. And I’m not saying that they will completely get it, I’m used to being misunderstood but maybe that’s what they need to understand, that I’m misunderstood.”
The 33 year-old knows this is a great chance for her family to also get an opportunity to do more of what they want.
“This is a chance for them to step into the spotlight and create their own identities rather than be known as Christina’s sisters or Christina’s manager or the momager. They really deserve this and they are really figuring this out like everyone else and figuring out their lives and trying to keep up with life. I think that this gave them the opportunity to do that,” Christina told us.
But was it hard to get her family involved in the process and let us all in?
“It’s definitely difficult because you spend so much time together and it’s a house full of women. We’re not all living together but we spend a lot of time together and that alone led to some moments that were very real,” added the star. “I think that the purpose of doing it is to show the vulnerable side and [to show] that we are all different. And people can relate to us in some way or another. We weren’t used to that but it brought up some value and respect for each other. It even showed what [and they saw the time] it takes to do something like this on camera. It’s scary but it’s fun.”
Something that can also be scary is letting the public get to see more of her daughter, Violet, who in her own way is already a star. Fans of the celeb have seen Violet grow up through Christina’s Instagram and now we will get to see a bit more of her on screen.
“It wasn’t and it was,” the mom told us about making the decision of having her daughter be on camera. “To me Violet is pretty popular based on social media, she’s part of my life so I would never want to hide that from any body if not be proud of my relationship or of what Violet is to me because she means a lot and is part of my motivation. But I do protect, as a parent you do want to protect your kids as much as possible. Technically when I was working I was able to have fun and do stuff with her and have those moments with her even when I was working.”
Other relationships that we see evolve are the relationships with her sisters who Christina tells us that she found out things about them that she didn’t know.
“There were things that I didn’t know, like they held some resentment towards some of the changes that happened growing up. [For example] when I went on the road, my mom chose to make sure that I was safe because I was getting into an industry where people are easily swayed in a certain direction and my mom had to protect me and sacrifice some time with my sisters. But we were also putting a roof over their head,” explained the “Start A Fire” singer. “So for them it was also understanding that there were sacrifices that had to be made for their future in order to make our lives better because we came a long way and it took all of those things to get us here.”
“Sometimes they tell me more recent stories where I say, ‘Oh, I didn’t know you felt that way’ and now they are expressing it and of course we have cameras on us and it’s a whole other story. But, obviously, it means something to them and if it takes us sitting down or us arguing to let us get past it now than years later, let’s get it out of the way. They also need to understand that even for me I was sacrificing a lot and technically …I not only do this career for myself but it’s for my family that includes them, not only my child.”
And sometimes things do get heated and things get real. There is a moment where the sisters yell, scream and even throw things in the heat of the moment. But as we see in the promo even she knows that being Cuban they get loud and people can get all worked up.
“At the end of the day we all fall back on family and there were some moments between my sisters and I that just happen. Whether it is an hour later, a day later or even moments later we’re back with each other like it never happened or we learn to communicate and talk about those issues so that we can grow through them rather than always argue, but it happens, we’re not perfect.”
As for now, in a couple of days we’ll be welcomed into the Milian family and get to know each and every one of these fiery ladies more personally and get to see Christina’s process of making her next studio album and handling all her business.
“I want to get out on the road, I want to tour and just get back to being an artist again. Now I just have to find that balance of doing that with my daughter. It will take some time but I’ll figure it out.”
We know you will!
Don’t miss “Christina Milian Turned Up” when it premieres this Sunday, Jan. 18 on E! at 10 p.m.
