Author, lawyer, life coach, and television personality Iyanla Vanzant sat down with Pastor A.R. Bernard on ARB.TV to discuss DMX, dealing with truth, and her personal life.
Vanzant has been criticized for her stern life coaching mechanisms, but she says she is obligated to stand on truth. “For me, truth is the omnipotent, omniscient [and the] omnipresence of God. For me, God is the truth.”
That truth motivates the Fix My Life coach to hold her guests accountable for their actions.
“We don’t tell each other the truth, we don’t hold each other accountable, we don’t allow responsibility, and we excuse, accommodate, and tolerate bad behavior,” she told Bernard during the interview. “When I got my marching orders to do this work in the world, what I heard from the Holy Spirit is, ‘Be the cold water in their face [and] be the soft place for them to fall.’”
Rapper and actor Earl Simmons, known publicly as DMX, died on April 9, 2021. In reflecting on season 1 of Iyanla: Fix My Life, Vanzant revealed that the Holy Spirit instructed her to consecrate DMX, however, challenges arose.
The house they rented had no heat, the water was cold, and the production team was in meltdown after viewers watched a verbal altercation between Vanzant and DMX. “Part of the success of Fix My Life was my obedience to what the Holy Spirit told me to do and that was a case where I was disobedient,” she revealed to Bernard.
Vanzant admitted that she has personal challenges despite helping others. In 2003, Vanzant’s daughter, Gemmia lost her life to cancer. Vanzant stepped in to help to raise Gemma’s daughter, her granddaughter. Much to Vanzant’s dismay, her granddaughter has not spoken to her for the last five years for reasons unknown to her.
However, the minister stands in confidence because she understands all things are lessons that God would have her learn.
“What is God teaching me about not being able to speak to my daughter’s daughter [and] the heart of my heart? How do I have that human pain and still make my purpose my priority,” she questioned.
She encouraged listeners to be intuned with the holy spirit because that’s the movement of God. “Whenever we’re in the process of being led by the spirit…that’s the movement of God.”
Catch a snippet below. To watch the full interview, head over to ARB.TV to sign up for free today!