Kandi Burruss suspects former Xscape singer LaTocha Scott of stealing her diary and revealing details about her romance with Jermaine Dupri

July 8, 2024

After years of speculation and whispers, Kandi Burruss is finally speaking out about how some of her group members found out about her relationship with Jermaine Dupri.

Rumors about Kandi and Dupri’s relationship caused a lot of tension within the group, leading to accusations of favoritism and distrust. In particular, LaTocha Scott claimed that Kandi was dating Dupri to gain an advantage over the other group members in her career. This claim strained the dynamic and ultimately contributed to their breakup in 1998.

In a revealing snippet from TV One’s “Uncensored” clip shared online, the “Real Housewives of Atlanta” star revealed that she confided in her then-best friends Tameka “Tiny” Cottle Harris and Tamika Scott about her relationship with the So So Def label head and producer, but left out Tamika’s sister, LaTocha Scott.

Kandi said her relationship with Jermaine began after the release of the group’s second album, “Off the Hook.”

Xscape shot the music videos for “Who Can I Run Too” and “Do You Want To”.

“It was a double video, that’s when we first connected,” she recalls. She said that although the two had started to get closer, no one knew about it because they were “surrounded by people who were constantly flirting.”

Jermaine Dupri x Kandi Burruss (Xscape) in the studio. (So So Def) (90s) pic.twitter.com/jmrzjIjO3v

— David Patel (@tnaved) October 11, 2023

“We were just really cool friends,” she said. “You couldn’t tell if you were sitting in a room with us. … It wasn’t a public relationship. It was very private.”

Burruss said they worked on two albums before it became romantic. But for most, it was private, but not for her two group sisters. “Tiny and Tamika Scott, we shared a lot of secrets. The three of us. They knew from the beginning. They always knew. Tamika didn’t tell her sister, but she knew.”

LaTocha didn’t know about this until one fateful day on tour, someone stole Burruss’s diary and passed on the information.

“I can’t say now that Tocha herself stole my diary, but someone close to her definitely got their hands on it,” the restaurant owner told the Old Lady Gang. “I kept a diary every day. The people close to me, Tamika and Tiny, had no reason to take the diary because they already knew.”

According to Kandi, the diary not only contained information about her relationship with Jermaine, but also something about a secret relationship Tiny was having with someone she wasn’t supposed to be with. That was the clue.

When the ladies of Xscape got into an argument on a tour bus, LaTocha brought up both relationships – and Kandi suspected that she was the one who stole the book.

“I’m angry,” she said of the leaked news. “But I can’t prove who took the diary. I had an idea. I felt like I knew who took it, but I couldn’t prove it, so I couldn’t do anything about it.”

She added, “We were having this little argument (like we always do with our little group arguments) and, uh, Tocha said something about the Jermaine thing or hinted at it and I was like, ‘OK,’ but then later in the conversation she said something about Tiny.”

The coincidence was just too much for Kandi: “She knew all of a sudden. Right after my diary was stolen. It’s not a damn coincidence. You can put two and two together. Even Tiny said, ‘Oh, that’s bullshit.'”

In the past, Tamika gave a radio interview in which she claimed that the former “Real Housewives of Atlanta” star slept with both Dupri and his father, Michael Mauldin. She later apologized and admitted that she made up the false story to defend her sister, LaTocha.

\ In 1998, Xscape released their album “Traces of My Lipstick” and the group decided to disband.

Dupri told his side of the story in a 2019 interview with Uncensored, saying he did not believe their relationship was the cause of the group’s breakup. It was an internal rivalry between Tocha and Kandi over who got to lead the songs that tore Xscape apart, he claimed.

“I feel like my songs have actually loosened up Xscape,” explained the producer-turned-actor.

“Because Xscape was Tocha’s group. Whoever it is, they think they’re the lead singer,” he continued. “They meet Jermaine Dupri and Jermaine Dupri writes a song and gives it to Kandi because Kandi’s voice sounds like mine… That caused friction from the beginning without me even knowing.”