On Wednesday, Toni Braxton claimed in an interview with Access Hollywood that her son no longer had autism and had been cured of the disease.
“My youngest son, as everyone knows, my son Diezel suffers from — or I should say suffered from autism. I am one of the lucky parents,” she said during the interview. “Early diagnosis changes everything. I will tell you this. I will shout it from the rooftops.”
She described her son as having been “off the spectrum” when he was diagnosed but now claims that he shows no signs of autism, continuing on to say that “our lives have changed.”
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Diezel was diagnosed with the disease at the age of three, and Braxton said that shortly after her son’s diagnosis, she was called up by Suzanne Wright, the co-founder of Autism Speaks, who helped her through the challenge of raising her son by suggesting programs and offering help.
“She’s been an advocate in helping me so much. I miss her already. I mean, I can’t believe she’s gone,” Braxton said. Wright died last week at age 79.
Braxton has previously spoken about her son’s autism, describing it as a punishment from God for having an abortion.
“In my heart, I believed I had taken a life — an action that I thought God might one day punish me for,” she wrote in her memoirs. “My initial rage was quickly followed by another strong emotion: guilt. I knew I’d taken a life…I believed God’s payback was to give my son autism.”
