'Salt-N-Pepa’s Cheryl James Talks Divorcing Husband after 28 Years

Cheryl "Salt" James breaks her silence about her painful and long process of divorce to her husband of 28 years. She describes it as "one of the darkest times of my life."

Coinciding with Salt-N-Pepa’s return via BET’S reality show, “Ladies’ Night,” Cheryl James, aka Salt, opens up about her ordeal going through a recent divorce after 28 years of marriage.

A DARK TIME IN HER LIFE

In an exclusive interview with The Jasmine Brand, Cheryl reveals her divorce took four years to materialize due to the grueling court process.

“Bless the Lord I’m out,” she sighs as she speaks of her freedom today.

“It was me trying to fill someone else’s void. And I didn’t realize that I was doing that."

The singer admits it was a difficult process and describes it as “one of the darkest times of my life because it took so long.”

ON FILLING A VOID

Cheryl’s divorce from her husband, Gavin Wray was finalized a year ago. They share two children, daughter Corin and son Chapele.

On why she finally decided to end her marriage, Cheryl says she realized she was only trying “to fit in” most of the time.

“It was me trying to fill someone else’s void. And I didn’t realize that I was doing that. Sometimes we make ourselves small to fit in someone’s box and accommodate them. A lot of times we do that with men. And when I was coming out, it was a long process of me coming out of the dark part of being divorced.”

"I talked to Pep a lot, I cried a lot.”

MOVING ON

It took a while for Cheryl to mend her broken heart and move on from her divorce and she credits her friend, Sandra Denton, aka Pepa, as well as her faith for helping her pull through.

“A lot of it had to do with my faith. A lot of it had to do with being around my girlfriends who I know love and support me and them being available to talk. I talked to Pep a lot, I cried a lot.”

Whatever you have to do to get yourself out of it, you will one day eventually get past it.”

The rapper also says her healing was a slow process that involved going through all the emotions, a few classes, and some therapy.

“I really focused on healing and being consistent with whatever I had to do… Whatever you have to do to get yourself out of it, you will one day eventually get past it.”

Cheryl gets the opportunity to use her experience as a means to help her co-star in “Ladies Night,” Coko Lemons. The SWV singer is also trying to move on from her own divorce after a 15-year marriage.

"I don’t want to call it a divorce party. It wasn’t a party. It was just me saying after four years of trying, I was finally divorced.”

LADIES NIGHT

With the help of the show, these women can bond over epic ladies’ nights which for Cheryl means having a pajama party in a hotel room with a lot of drinks, laughter, music, and venting. She explains,

“Just talking about what you’re going through and being there to support each other. That’s a fun night for me. I actually had that night the day I got divorced. I don’t want to call it a divorce party. It wasn’t a party. It was just me saying after four years of trying, I was finally divorced.”

SCANDALOUS AND EXPENSIVE DIVORCES

Divorces can be tough especially when a lot of years and money have been invested in a marriage. There have been several high profile divorces in the past that made waves due to the scandal and huge sums of settlement they involved. Blockbuster director Steven Spielberg shelled out $100 million when he divorced Amy Irving after four years of marriage. Madonna paid ex-husband Guy Richie at least $76 million when they parted ways after eight years. President Donald Trump during his divorce to Ivana Trump settled it with a $25 million payout. For more of these scandalous and expensive divorces, click here.

Meanwhile, for more of the aftermath of Cheryl’s divorce, fans can tune it to BET's “Ladies Night” on Tuesdays.