Featured role in new movie, 'Kingdom Come'

Singer Toni Braxton looks to the future

Toni Braxton in the music video for "He Wasn't Man Enough For Me"

In this story: Out of debt, on screen Flashing the flesh RELATED STORIES, SITES

(CNN) -- It's a good time to be Toni Braxton.

Her singing career is still hitting high notes. Her finances, after some stumbles, are in great shape. Her first movie, "Kingdom Come," opened in theaters earlier this week. She's getting married in less than two weeks.

It's a far cry from five years ago, when she was selling millions of records but was mired in a dispute with her record company over royalties. Braxton faced bankruptcy, and feared the worst.

	VIDEO
CNN's Sherri Sylvester talks with singer Toni Braxton about her first film performance Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

"I'd be on VH1's where-are-they-now show," she told The Associated Press. "And I kept telling myself, 'I don't want to be a where-are-they-now on VH1.'"

She also admits to some struggles with relationships. Sad songs like "Unbreak My Heart" and "Breathe Again" were uncomfortably close to lyrical autobiographies.

"I haven't had the best relationships," Braxton said to CNN's Sherri Sylvester. "In the past my heart's been broken a lot, so most songs I sing about are true."

Out of debt, on screen

But she's changed her tune now -- finances in the black, an impending marriage to musician Keri Lewis, the movie debut.

If the wedding hasn't made her nervous, the film surely did, Braxton said.

"This was my first movie, and coming into this area, with all these established actors -- they made me feel comfortable, but oh, I was nervous," she said.

A comedy, "Kingdom Come" is about a dysfunctional family gathering for a funeral. Braxton plays Juanita, a relative who has married well -- and keeps reminding folks of the fact.

The real Braxton was another person altogether, "Kingdom" director Doug McHenry said.

"Toni doesn't act like your typical diva," he said to The Associated Press. "If everyone has to bend over and scoop up dirt with her hands, she's willing to do it."

"Toni has done very well," added Vivica A. Fox, a co-star in the movie. "It may be Toni's first film, but she's an added bonus for us and a star in her own right."

Flashing the flesh

Then there's the wedding, for which Braxton is proud to reveal she'll be wearing a Vera Wang gown.

"It's a bell dress. I'm very traditional when I'm not working," she told CNN. "I'm excited. It's a beautiful dress."

And what of that other dress, the thin straps of taped-on fabric she wore to the Grammys? Is it a reaction to her upbringing as the daughter of a strict Methodist minister who forbade his children from attending movies, listening to secular music, or wearing anything but long dresses until they were teen-agers?

Braxton says no.

"Showing skin makes me feel taller," she told The AP. "As a little girl I always wanted to be like the black Marilyn Monroe. ... I always wanted to be sexy because I wasn't when I was younger."

But she also makes no bones about the fact that she wants to become a mother -- and quickly.

"I'm hoping, on my wedding night, to get the (T-shirt labeled) 'baby' with the arrow pointing down," she told CNN with a laugh. "No romance, (though) my fiance said, 'Can we at least kiss?' I don't want to stress out; I have to remain calm. Wish me luck."

As if she needs any.

Charts feel 'The Heat' of Braxton's newest release
May 12, 2000

'Kingdom Come' - official site
LaFace Records

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