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Written by Kirk Hartlage
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Wednesday, 01 November 2006 |
 TONI THE TIGER
With Her New Vegas Show, Toni Braxton Brings Out The Tigress Within
It’s been a good year for Toni, who recently
returned to performing live after a near-
10-year break from touring. Her “Libra”
Tour took her to sold-out venues across the
country, the World Cup brought her to Germany,
she headlined the White Party in Palm Springs
and she also performed with eventual American
Idol winner Taylor Hicks on last season’s finale.
But move over, Céline and Elton—Toni’s now
the latest megastar to take up residence in Las
Vegas. Toni Braxton: Revealed won’t have the same
disappearing/mauling tiger acts or Cirque du-So-
Gay acrobatics featured in other Sin City shows,
but it will showcase the incredible vocals that have
helped Toni sell over 42 million albums and win
six Grammys. And she’ll be singing many of those
songs at the Flamingo Hotel and Casino through a
million-dollar white-gold microphone encrusted
with 650 carats of diamonds.“It’s so extravagant,
like taking a bath in Dom Perignon. I love it!” she
exclaims. Opulent, over-the-top and talented? No
wonder she’s a chick we’d switch for.
INSTINCT: I saw your tour this year, and it was
incredible. What’s the difference between the
tour show and the Vegas show?
TONI BRAXTON: I’m doing some of the same
numbers, but lights, set—it’s totally different. It’s
like Vegas meets Broadway. Remember what I did
with “Seven Whole Days”? Now it’s much more
Chicago. We incorporated the guys with it. I have
six guy dancers now with the five girl dancers.
Well, that’s reason enough to see the show.
Oh, the boys are so…oh, my God! God, they
weren’t this cute when I was younger! They just
were not! [Laughs] These boys are really sexy and
young, and oh, the muscles, and they’re shirtless in
some scenes. Oh, my gosh. I’m married, aren’t I?
And with two kids, no less. But surely there are
men other than your husband you find hot.
Brad Pitt, definitely. And that guy on Entourage that
looks like if Simba the lion came to life—Mufasa’s
son—if he came to life, that’s how he would
look. He’s in The Devil Wears Prada [Ed: Adrian
Grenier]. He’s so sexy, too. And if we’re going to
be honest, you know who I think is sexy? Adam
Sandler. I could date him if I weren’t married.
You’re performing in the theater Wayne Newton once
did. What are they doing to de-cheese the theater?
Okay, right? [Laughs] They are making it current.
The whole hotel is undergoing a $300 million
renovation. Just for me. [Laughs]
Speaking of money, gay guys aren’t always the
best with handling theirs. Since you’ve gone
through bankruptcy yourself, what suggestions
would you offer someone in the same situation?
It’s really, really tough, and there’s life after
bankruptcy. I sold 10 million albums on the
second album, and my royalty statement was
less than $2,000. My bankruptcy helped change
contracts for new artists. I was getting 32 cents a
record, and I couldn’t talk about it for seven years.
It’s hard to not get embarrassed about it, but just
know there’s life after that.
Any gossip from performing at the American
Idol finale?
The only gossip I know was Prince—thirty seconds
before they were going to announce him, he came on—from his limo! I loved it. I was
like, Ohmigod, I need to practice that.
I thought it was great, it was so starish,
so diva-ish. They like you in the
wings 10 minutes before you go on.
Thirty seconds! Can you imagine? The producers
were giving birth to baby turtles.
You were a runway model for Marc Jacobs during
Fashion Week.
I was a knockoff runway model. [Laughs] I am 5’
2”. I’m a lot of things, but I’m not holdin’ out for
that one! [Laughs] I love watching Project Runway
and America’s Next Top Model. Those shows have
really shown me a lot. They’ve taught me how I
need to stand when I do photo shoots and the
things people look for when they select pictures. I
never knew there was so much art to it.
So Toni, who’s the chick you’d switch for?
Angelina Jolie’s fabulous, but she’s too political for
my tastes right now. Let’s see…there are so many
great girls out there. Salma, Charlize Theron. But
if I was a guy I would totally be gay. Definitely. I am
a gay man in a woman’s body. No question. My
assistant, who’s gay, always tells me, “You are such a
gay male.” I say, “We are, aren’t we?”
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Instinct Online 
written by jonathan on December 04, 2007
I LOOOOOVE HER!