Brandy Ends Her Silence On Past Age-Gap Romance With Wanya Morris

Brandy is looking back on a relationship from her younger years, offering her reflections on the romance from a more mature perspective in her memoir. The singer dated Boyz II Men’s Wanya Morris when she was in her teens, and in hindsight, she realized there was “something wrong” with the age-gap coupling.

Brandy Revealed Details In Her Memoir

R&B singer Brandy is revealing details about her past in her new memoir, “Phases,” released on March 31. In it, Brandy confirmed that she was once involved in a romantic relationship with Wanya Morris, one of the members of the vocal harmony group Boyz II Men. At that time, she was 16 and Morris was 22.

The two met in 1994 when they collaborated on the song “Brokenhearted,” which was included in Brandy’s self-titled album released the following year. The two got to know each other while working together, and their relationship turned into romance. However, they kept it secret.

“I was in over my head. Sneaking around with Wanya and lying to my parents had become a constant,” Brandy wrote, adding that her parents didn’t allow her to date at that time.

The Singer Said They Knew The Relationship Would Be Scandalous

Brandy revealed that she and Morris knew that going public with their relationship would be a problem. While a six-year age gap may not have seemed so significant, she was still a minor at the time.

“Wanya and I understood, with diamond-cut clarity that public knowledge of our relationship would ignite scandal, potentially everything we’d both worked for, so he and I opted for elaborate fiction: we would pretend patience and claim we were waiting until my eighteenth birthday before pursuing any romantic connection,” Brandy confessed.

Morris spoke in 2021 about meeting Brandy, saying she became a “protege” and their friendship developed into romance when she was of legal age. He said, “There’s no lie going on here. You can ask Brandy and she will tell you the same story.” With Brandy’s revelations in her memoir, however, it seems there are inconsistencies in their timelines.

Brandy Believed She Was In Love

She revealed that she planned to save herself for marriage. However, she believed they were in love at that time, and she changed her mind, thinking that “having sex with him would cement our bond.” Recalling the time she lost her virginity to Morris, she said the experience was like Morris “getting what he wanted from someone too young to recognize she was being used.”

Further into their relationship, Brandy said Morris started comparing her to others. Looking back, she realized there were so many red flags that she says are now “obvious.”

“Neon warning signs that I chose to ignore because I didn’t know what the hell I was doing, or what he was doing with me. Just that I was in love — or what I believed was love,” Brandy wrote.

The Couple Parted Ways Due To Infidelity

Brandy and Morris’ relationship didn’t last, as she claimed she caught him cheating with an assistant. Afterward, Morris confessed to several more infidelities, and they parted ways. In hindsight, Brandy believes Morris “took advantage” of her innocence and inexperience.

“The shame ends here. The silence ends here,” Brandy wrote. “I was not a fast girl with a crush. I was not a dramatic teenager who couldn’t handle rejection. I was not an unstable obsessive fan. I was a child. And he was an adult. And it’s time the world understood the difference,” she added.

Wanya Morris Discussed Their Relationship In The Past

In 2014, Morris was asked about their relationship on the “Breakfast Club” radio show. The interview resurfaced in 2023 due to renewed interest in ’90s celebrity relationships.

In it, Morris said, “We did the thing when she was 16, 17, around that time, you know,” adding that he “wasn’t 38 years old or anything like that.” What shocked viewers was what Morris said next: “She was old enough to get it.” One of the hosts asked, “But was it legal in the state you were in?” to which Morris responded jokingly, “We didn’t do it in the states it was illegal.”

One user commented, “This is disgusting how disrespectful they are toward her.” Another added, “They are wild for laughing at her expense.”

As of writing, Morris has not addressed Brandy’s claims in her memoir.