Toni Braxton Opens Up About Her 25-Year-Old Nose Job: 'The Higher Notes Got Easier'

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Craig Barritt/Getty Images for Lifetime

The R&B superstar also took on shamers who think she dresses too sexy for her age: 'I feel forever 25.'

Toni Braxton has nothing to hide about the nose job she got while recording her 1993 eponymous debut album.

"We didn’t finish the album, so I was singing with a fresh nose job, which is virtually impossible because it hurt so bad – you can’t really move it," the R&B singer recalls in a new interview with PrideSource.

She noted that it "might be too much information," but nonetheless, spilled on the rhinoplasty procedure done "from the inside," forcing Braxton to "wear this little thing" while singing. "It was so sore," she says. "You can't hardly move your nose and in between your lips, and I remember it was really difficult to sing."

The surgery also corrected her sinus problems, and Braxton reaped the benefits: "The higher notes got easier," she says.

Elsewhere, the "Un-Break My Heart" singer clapped back at social media critics who have recently knocked her for donning a sexy bodysuit on the cover of her new album, Sex & Cigarettes, out Friday. Responding to one Facebook commenter in particular, who said, "We as older women have to set an example for younger women," Braxton says: "Oh, that's cute. It doesn’t really bother me. I think if you look good, you can wear it. Any age. For me, personally, I don’t wear midriffs. I think I’m too old to wear midriffs. Each his own. It’s just me, my body shape, I’m sure. But I work hard on my body, not just because I’m older, just because I like to be in great health."

Though Braxton turned 50 in October, she says, "I feel forever 25. It's kind of weird. Parts of me are 25, probably."

Braxton went on to praise the empowered female pop icons of her generation, as well as the current wave of female artists, like Rihanna, because "they speak as loud as they want."

"Women … should embrace each other," she adds. "I look at Madonna. She’s still doing it and Madonna’s almost 60. Who cares? Or look at me, Janet [Jackson] or Halle Berry. We’re all in the same group. So, I think it’s all about how you feel about yourself… . I like that now people look younger than their age. I think that people really see people and are thinking age less and aren’t thinking numbers. Numbers, to me, just determine how long you’ve been on the Earth."

What advice, then, would 50-year-old Toni have for 25-year-old Toni? "Sex and Cigarettes Toni would tell the Toni of 25 years ago to have more sex and smoke more cigars and have fun," she shares. "And don’t be afraid to be a b***h."

Read the full PrideSource interview here.

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