Trina Braxton Is 'Coping Better' After Sister Traci’s Death: 'I Had to Realize That It's Okay to Not be Okay' (Exclusive)

Trina Braxton is opening up about how she’s coping more than two years after the death of her late sister Traci.

Trina’s mother Dr. Evelyn Braxton expressed concern that her daughter was “eating and drinking her feelings” after losing Traci, who died of esophageal cancer in 2022, in the season finale The Braxtons.

“Since I went to the counseling center, it has changed dramatically,” Trina, 49, reassured her mother. “I don’t even cook at two in the morning anymore. Now I can sleep at night.”

“I want to be near my sons. I want to be around my grandchildren. I want to be near my family. I want to be with my husband,” she added. “There is still a lot I want to achieve. There is still so much I want to do. And I don’t want you to lose another child.”

In the confessional, she admitted that she was in a “dark place” before realizing “that it’s okay to be sad. It’s okay to grieve, but Traci would want me to continue living my best life.”

From left: Trina Braxton, Traci Braxton, Towanda Braxton, Tamar Braxton and Toni Braxton attend BET’s “106 & Park” on April 11, 2011 in New York City.

Johnny Nunez/WireImage

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During an interview with PEOPLE, Trina says she’s learning how to move forward in the grieving process.

“Every day is its own journey,” she explains. “You wake up and sometimes it’s a good day. Maybe a few more weeks, not a very good day.”

“You can see something that can be a happy reminder, and then sometimes there are happy tears,” she continued. “And then sometimes the tears flow: ‘I miss you so much. I wish you were here. Oh my God, that’s something Traci would do.’ Sometimes it is a moment of laughter, but also of crying.”

The Braxtons: Towanda Braxton vows to keep ‘fighting’ for late sister Traci ’till the day I die’ (Exclusive)

Trina Braxton and Towanda Braxton at the premiere of “The Braxtons” at the Westside Cultural Arts Center on August 8, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Joi Stokes/Getty

In a joint interview with her sister Towanda, the reality star reveals that grief counseling has allowed her to “separate different things as far as my grieving process goes.”

“I had to realize that it’s okay not to be okay,” she shares. “It’s okay to cry. And it’s okay to go forward, but not necessarily further.”

As for how she is doing now, Trina says: “I can sleep now, I’ll tell you that. I can definitely sleep. That was big. I managed to get by on food and drink. Whatever it is, I’m definitely coping better.”

Trina admits that portraying the family’s grieving process on The Braxtons was “nothing short of difficult, but it was necessary.”

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“One of the things we were proud of during our entire work Braxton Family Valuesand now The Braxtonsit was our transparency,” she explains. “If we were going to do what we set out to do from the beginning, which was to also help other people try to find a solution within their own family unit, it was only right that we were transparent and vulnerable enough to show everyone how we felt.”

Towanda added that the family did not discuss Traci’s death, explaining, “It was just an unspoken thing. Like, ‘Okay, she’s gone, but we don’t want to talk about it because we don’t want to make it real that she’s really not here.'”

“Like Trina said, it was hard,” she continues. “However, it was refreshing because we were able to really come together to talk about it and know and determine how everyone was feeling and where everyone was at that point with Traci’s passing.”

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The Braxtons now streaming on AllBLK.

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Source: HIS Education