Iyanla meets with Le’Andria’s manager.
The episode opens with Phil, Le’Andria’s manager stopping by. He calls Le’Andria’s behavior destructive and her drinking is harmful.
Phil is also the head of Le’Andria’s record label and they met in 2010 after she won BET’s “Sunday’s Best.” He openly calls her an alcoholic in his talk with Iyanla. Phil’s also disturbed by Le’Andria rebelling out against the church on social media. They have a clip of Le’Andria famously ranting against the church.
Iyanla’s concerned that Phil turned a blind eye toward’s Le’Andria’s issue due to their business obligations.
Overall, Phil is ready to give up on Le’Andria as an artist if it means she controls her addiction.
Le’Andria’s in denial.
Next, Le’Andria is greeted by Iyanla and is taken into a room with a board on a wall with words that describe her. The first sign that’s pointed out is Gospel Artist.
Iyanla flips it over and it says, “Religion is bull[bleep], [bleep] the church.”
During this exercise, Iit’s pointed out that Le’Andria became a mother first. On the back of that card, it says DUI, Absent, and Guilt. Le’Andria got a DUI recently because of her drinking.
“I could’ve been dead.” – Le’Andria
During their first chat, Iyanla cuts it to her straight telling Le’Andria that she isn’t here to sugarcoat the truth.
To drive that point home, Iyanla takes her into another room and points out her alcohol monitor that Le’Andria received as a consequence for her DUI.
She then shows a cart that has four huge bowls full of alcohol. They are labeled representing what Le’Andria drinks almost daily. She begins with a Mimosa at 11 am. Next, Le’Andria has three Long Island Iced Teas with another Mimosa at 3 pm. That’s one hour before her kids come home.
Le’Andria says it’s okay if she drinks that because she can function and Iyanla scoffs.
Iyanla drills into her, emphasizing her belief that Le’Andria has a drinking problem. Le’andria reveals she’s still harboring pain from her brother passing away. She says her brother is supposed to be here.
“You’re not ‘supposed’ to have an ankle bracelet on your leg, but you do. Because only the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.” – Iyanla
At this point, a light bulb goes off in Iyanla’s head.
Le’Andria’s distrust in the Church is explored.
Iyanla believes Le’Andria is lashing out on social media about the church due to the pain she’s feeling. Le’Andria feels betrayed and vengeful towards the church.
Despite having valid criticism of the church, Iyanla says her delivery is all wrong.
“‘Cause you’re in conflict.” – Iyanla
At then end of this meeting, Iyanla reminds her that she does have a right to hurt when she feels betrayed. This talk leaves Le’Andria crying as she thinks about everything.
At this point, Iyanla meets with Le’Andria’s brother Terence as she looks for insight into Le’Andria. He believes she is an alcoholic. He also revealed their parents were preachers and as a result, they had sheltered lives.
Iyanla gets frustrated with Terence when he revealed he was in AA and didn’t tell Le’Andria.
“Mr. Terence, you have to tell her. Because she feels she’s the scourge of the family.” – Iyanla
Terence agrees but he may not get that chance.
Iyanla does her best to keep Le’Andria from quitting.
Le’Andria’s outside of the house contemplating leaving the process. Iyanla’s assistant Dr. D is talking to her. As they’re talking, Iyanla comes out and invokes Proverbs 3 to persuade her to stay.
“Lean not on your own understanding. That’s what you’ve been doing — Leaning on your own understanding. His rod and his staff comfort you. Not the gospel industry.” – Iyanla
At the end, Le’Andria receives an ultimatum to stay or go.
As Le’Andria contemplates continuing the process, Iyanla sits with her booking agent Robert. He says he’s like her big brother. She asks Robert if she is an alcoholic. Robert says no because Le’Andria hasn’t had liquor in 31 days due to her DUI.
Iyanla points out that she could still return to drinking if she doesn’t confront her underlying issues. Robert agrees and says the death of her brother weighs on Le’Andria heavily.
Overall, Robert doesn’t want Le’Andria to have a breakdown but Iyanla confronts him for allowing her to go on her rants on social media calling out the church.
Iyanla tells Robert that Le’Andria doesn’t need him as a booking agent if he really wants to help. She explains that as a booking agent, Robert or anyone else will cover up her drama to keep people paid.
At this point, Iyanla believes Le’Andria has relationships with people that result in them remaining silent concerning her issues.
Le’Andria’s manager gives her an ultimatum.
Later, Iyanla meets with Le’Andria once more and it comes up that her children know she has a drinking problem. It’s so bad, they ask Le’Andria not to drink when they are out in public. Iyanla asks her response to that and Le’Andria cries as she says, “Don’t tell me what to do.”
When asked if she’s been to an AA meeting, Le’Andria says no. Iyanla tells Le’Andria the first step in AA is to admit that you have a problem.
Next, Iyanla tells Le’Andria she has a resource to help her and goes to get it. The resource happens to be her manager and label owner Phil.
Phil says the drinking has got to stop. He fears the drinking can and will lead to her death. Iyanla interjects that everyone has to realize that she’s an addict before the drinking has to stop.
Phil then says she needs to remove everyone from around her and she has to make changes in the next 60 days. That includes focusing on handling her alcoholism. Iyanla ask if it can be bumped up to 90 days.
He agrees and Iyanla also gets him to lay out the expectation of being alcohol free. If not, he says they need to go their separate ways.
The episode ends before we see Le’Andria accept the terms.
What are your thoughts on the episode?
