Toni Braxton has lived enough life—and sung enough heartbreak—to know that romance doesn’t expire.
As she gets ready to debut her new Lifetime movie, He Wasn’t Man Enough, the Grammy winner is also speaking candidly about why love hit differently the second time around, especially with the man who’s been in her orbit for more than two decades: Birdman.
The film, inspired by Braxton’s 2000 hit of the same name, puts her back on screen as Mel Montgomery, a bestselling author blindsided by the discovery that her younger boyfriend hasn’t been the partner he appeared to be.
With support from friends played by Essence Atkins and Yvette Nicole Brown, Mel rebuilds her life while reclaiming her confidence—something Braxton says resonates far beyond the script.
“I’m a hopeless romantic,” Braxton told People. “I’ve learned that romance is never over. It’s ageless.”
The message hits close to home after she and Birdman quietly marked one year of marriage in August 2025. The two first connected as collaborators and friends, spending more than 15 years in each other’s lives before dating in 2016.
She once described him as her “bestie,” long before he became her husband.
Their relationship even sneaks into the movie through a lighthearted Easter egg. During a spa-day scene, Mel and her friends let loose to Juvenile’s “Back That Azz Up,” a classic from Birdman’s Cash Money Records era. Braxton said the moment was designed to feel authentic to the characters: “That was the song that we would've been listening to.”
He Wasn’t Man Enough also revisits the tone of the original music video, where Braxton assured another woman that she had no intention of circling back to her ex.
Braxton revealed she had hoped actress Robin Givens—who starred in the video—would appear in the film, though scheduling conflicts made it impossible. Even without Givens, the new adaptation maintains the original spirit: moving forward, not backward.
Braxton credits her sense of resilience to her tight-knit family. “I come from a sisterhood,” she said, reflecting on growing up with four sisters and the loss of her sister Traci. Those bonds helped shape the film’s themes of friendship, loyalty, and starting over when life doesn’t go as planned.
“Sometimes you get it right, girls, sometimes you don’t,” she added. “But you gotta keep living.”