Tashera Simmons: "I’m Not in Love with Him Anymore" [EXCLUSIVE]

How she and DMX overcame their differences to make the show happen

Tashera Simmons is best known as the estranged wife of DMX, one of the most popular rappers in hip-hop history. Fans loved X for his aggressive rhyme style and for being so candid about his inner demons. However, behind closed doors, Tashera had to deal with the dark side of X and says it was more intense than his fans could ever imagine.

Part of the troubled rapper’s issues were his highly-publicized drug abuse -- which has landed him in and out of jail over the past decade -- and his rampant infidelity (which lead to several children out of wedlock).

X and Tashera eventually split and hadn’t been on speaking terms for the past 6 years — that is, until DMX thought it would be a good idea to appear on VH1’s “Couples Therapy.” So far, their road to recovery has been bumpy, but  in this exclusive interview with Loop 21 Tashera promises there's a silver lining.

[ALSO READ: DMX Owes $1Mil In Child Support?]

Loop 21: Being separated, how’d you two come together for “Couples Therapy?”

Simmons: X went to VH1 to pitch a whole other show and they thought it would be more interesting if he and I were a part of this project. He told them that we weren’t together, but they said, 'Maybe we can just get a friendship going.' Me and him were really not on speaking terms at all. Just for the kids. I would send nannies when he was in town. I already knew there were a lot of things we hadn’t talked about and I didn’t feel like exploding on TV, but he usually never wants to deal with anything, so that’s what made me decide to do it -- after a week of him asking.

Loop 21: In the first episode, you seemed to shut down when he exploded. Are you desensitized to his behavior?

Simmons: When I was there, I was like, “I’m not doing this on TV,” and then after watching it, I felt sorry for myself like, I cannot believe I was enduring that kind of disrespect and didn’t find nothing wrong with it. Any time he would go off like that I would just ignore him and shut down. For the first 10 years we were together, he wasn’t like that. He always had a bad temper but never exploded on me. It never got physical thank God, because I [would] probably be dead right now.

Loop 21: Last year, DMX appeared on addiction specialist Dr. Drew's show "Life Changers." It seemed like a good start. What happened?

Simmons: Dr. Drew was reaching out a lot; he didn't think "Couples Therapy" was a good idea. He thought that X should be dealing with his drug problem before even trying to deal with his marriage, but X didn’t feel like he had a real drug problem.

Loop 21: How did other people in the "Couple's Therapy" house react to DMX?