Brandy's Bro Ray J Got Her On “DWTS” By Calling Her a Punk

Brandy signed on to “Dancing With the Stars for an age-old reason: Sibling pressure.

The R&B singer's brother said she’d be a “punk” if she didn’t. Brandy’s brother Ray J is, of course, also an R&B star, as well as a notorious reality dating series lothario, and the siblings’ symbiotic – but also recently contentious – relationship gets examined in the second season of their unscripted VH1 series “Brandy & Ray J: A Family Business,” premiering Dec. 5.

“I didn't know if 'Dancing with the Stars' was the right move,” Brandy tells PopcornBiz of her struggle to commit to the contest, chronicled on the first episode of the reality series. “On top of that I was just afraid. I didn't want to embarrass myself. I didn't want to embarrass my family, my daughter, the fans, because dancing has never been something that I've been comfortable doing. So I didn't want to just go on there and not be good.”

“My brother put it into perspective,” she explains. “He said, 'If you don't do "Dancing with the Stars" you're running ,and there is no other reason why you shouldn't do it. You need go ahead on and do it, because if you don't you're just basically a punk. You're afraid.' And that conversation did something to me and I just said, 'Forget it. I'm just going to do it.' And I did it.”

But the show also reveals some cracks in their brother/sister bond, as Ray J begins to rebel against Brandy’s constant concerns about his personal and professional decisions.

“I think I might love Ray J a little too much, because sometimes I can be overbearing and too protective. So I'm working on that,” admits Brandy. “Our fighting this season has nothing to do with what I've done to him or what he's done to me. It's just about me feeling like I need to protect him from some of the choices that he's making.”

Having gained newfound confidence and an even wider fanbase from her DWTS stint, Brandy also hopes her baby bro will follow in her dance shoes.

“I've been trying to convince Ray J that he should do 'Dancing with the Stars', but he told me that it looks too hard – which is one of the reasons I'm glad that I never watched 'Dancing with the Stars' before I was on. If I would've watched I never would've been on it because I would've said, 'Nah, that looks too complicated. It looks too hard.' So Ray is like, 'I'm never doing "Dancing with the Stars,” it’s too complicated!’”
 

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