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LaTavia Roberson’s career tells a parable of the music industry. The Houston native was perhaps a part of one of the greatest girl groups of all time. Founded in 1990, Roberson joined the ranks of Girl’s Tyme early on, and after a handful of group name changes (Cliché, The Dolls) and later, Destiny’s Child. While she didn’t know it then, she would become a part of a larger legacy, for both the city of Houston and pop culture at large. As a founding member of the iconic group, standing alongside Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland, and LeToya Luckett forming a four-part harmony that’s etched in music history. “I love being home, knowing that I’m a part of history here,” she says of Houston, where she grew up on the Northside, in Acres Homes to be exact.
The long days of practice would come to pay off, however, Roberson didn’t have girl group dreams – at least not initially. Her first brush with stardom began with modeling and commercials, which gave Roberson her foray into the music industry. “I started out modeling, I really wanted to be an actress. Through my modeling agency is how I got the opportunity to be in Destiny’s Child,” the two-time Grammy award winner tells ESSENCE. “My mom made me take vocal lessons, and I’m so glad that my mother made me do that because it determined my faith in the group that became Destiny’s Child.”
Her time in the group is marked by two landmark albums in the DC timeline, 1998’s self-titled debut LP (Columbia/Music World Entertainment), and the subsequent year’s The Writings On The Wall (Columbia). Roberson’s vocal range brought a lower register to some of the then-foursome’s biggest hits including “No, No, No,” and “Second Nature.” These albums were the earliest aughts of Destiny’s Child, where the girl group had the voices and the style to match, wearing vibrant ensembles all handcrafted by Beyoncé’s mother, Tina who was a seamstress.
In the wake of Destiny’s Child’s dissolution in 2005, the aftermath took a distinct turn for LaTavia Roberson. Her departure from the group in 2000, alongside LeToya Luckett, marked a poignant chapter defined by the industry’s unforgiving nature, particularly within a collective. “I was told that the ‘Say My Name’ [music] video was about to come out, and we saw two new members in there.”
The void left by their exit saw the group transforming into a trio with the addition of Michelle Williams. However, the years that followed held unexpected promise for reconciliation and healing. A significant moment unfolded during Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour last year, where the once-dispersed group reassembled for the first time in years. This remarkable reunion not only bridged the past and present but also manifested in a historic Instagram post, featuring a long-awaited gathering of all five original members—LeToya, LaTavia, Beyoncé, Kelly, and Michelle—in a first-ever DC5 photo.
“It was bittersweet…being in the same place and being able to hug each other, it was,” she hesitates, her voice briefly choked with emotion. “I lost my best friends. Regardless of what happened. It was like a great marriage ending,” LaTavia adds, reflecting on seeing her former bandmates.
Now, 42, LaTavia is decidedly making her comeback, following a nearly 20 year hiatus, away from the industry. While she’s not necessarily returning as a solo artist, she’s reclaiming her time, and inching towards the spotlight once again. “Time heals all wounds at the end of the day, but it takes just that — time,” she explains. “No one can tell you how to grieve. But I’m on my way to being back in there, back in the spotlight.”
She admits that she fell to the background following her dismissal, and she’s now picking up the pieces. “I isolated myself. I didn’t leave, I was dismissed. Who leaves Destiny’s Child,” she quips. “I was one of the people that was there at the start. I helped build that. I isolated myself because I felt my past started to come up with me, daddy issues, family issues. I lost my best friends.”
Her courageousness to step back into the spotlight and share her story for the first time is commendable, because departing from DC—and her friends—wasn’t in her plans. Even more remarkable, she doesn’t choose to point the finger at anyone, but is more focused on living in truth. “The things that I’ve done, to become whole again, I had to get into me, which is really hard. Therapy, which I really feel is a big key, especially when you’ve gone through a lot of things that people don’t understand, but when you understand yourself, it’s better. There’s nothing like peace of mind. It’s one of the greatest things that I have been able to do,” Roberson explains.
She speaks with such assuredness and she’s made peace with her past, and speaks candidly of what she’s been through with a joy that’s palpable. Leaving behind a girl group on the rise, also still a teenager, the journey to find identity was a long one. Today, she appears as a phoenix rising from the flames of the music industry in which she came.This time around, she’s back and more formidable than ever, juggling an array of pursuits—from philanthropy and entrepreneurship.
She has dedicated herself to her nonprofit organization, Le Papillon Foundation, a name resonating with her French heritage, translating to “butterfly.”
“I believe that life is about transformation, and I believe that no matter what, you have to go through the stage where there’s a cocoon. You have to go in, and find yourself, and sometimes you have to be shut out from the world to experience certain things within yourself,” Roberson says. “I’ve never seen an ugly butterfly. But there is a transformation stage in that. So I believe that that’s what I have done over this time. It’s been hard, and it’s still hard, but I’m coming out on the better side of it. And I just love what God is doing with me and I can share it with other young girls to let them know we are beautiful. No matter what society says, no matter what anybody says about us. We are who we are because it’s in the word,” she says, calling back to Proverbs 23:7, one of her favorite Bible verses, “as a man thinketh, so is he.”
In addition to her nonprofit, she also has a cosmetics line the Queens Kollection, and soon-to-come lingerie line Seductress, and is developing a documentary about her life, to give fans more insight on where she’s been. She’s also keeping a foot in the music industry, managing her R&B artist Roland Champaine, who with LaTavia’s help, has scored features with Houston legends like Paul Wall.
While her story undeniably warrants a tell-all memoir, Roberson remains deliberate, pacing herself to unfold each aspect with the thoughtful grace that has defined her journey. She’s exhibited immense strength, and resilience and
“The one thing that I do know is that it’s made me the person that I am, and I appreciate even through all of the downfalls, the heartaches, everything that I’ve been through. It’s made me the person that I am and I’m still climbing.
