“Love and Hip Hop: New York” star Tahiry Jose and Joe Budden officially ended their courtship in 2013 after dating on-and-off for several years. Their relationship was riddled with lies and accusations of infidelities, many of which played out publicly on the VH1 reality show. 

In mid-2020, Tahiry spoke out about her time with the New Jersey rapper, where she claimed he physically abused her. Joe addressed those claims, reluctantly, on his digital show, “The Joe Budden Podcast,” in which he said their relationship was toxic and that Tahiry assaulted him.

The aspiring actress received backlash from users online regarding her claims. Many also accused the reality star of being a “fighter.” The 41-year-old recently addressed her critics during a New Year’s Eve Instagram Live session with businesswoman Alicia Lyons. 

Around the 33-minute mark, Tahiry expressed that it was understandable that many people wouldn’t believe her. “I tend to try to keep my sh-t personal,” she said. “Again, those that know me know me, and that’s all that matters. And you will be judged anyway. Even the situation that I just had when I stepped up and talked about being abused in a relationship … sometimes I look back, and it’s just like this is why it took so long for me to speak up. Because all people wanna do is bash you and don’t have the slightest clue to what really happened. And it’s just a difficult space to be in, so that’s why sometimes I just chill out and do my healing by myself.”

The two women later discussed why victims often are seemingly held accountable for the abuse they suffer. Tahiry attributed her portal to various television shows as the reason she appears to be more of a fighter. 

“I think that’s the biggest misconception that you know, at least for me, that I’m a fighter, when I’m actually a lover,” she said. “And you know, I have gotten bullied to the point where I just kind of looked the other way until I woke up and I was like, ‘I’ve had it. I’ve had the little jokes, I’ve had the little lies, I’ve had it.’ Like, stop. But, you know, the world believes whatever they want to believe. I’m fine. I know what happened. My God knows what happened. He knows what happened. So that’s why I don’t care.”

Still, she maintained that she never assaulted Joe. “So Tahiry’s aggressive. Yeah, I’m loud,” she admitted. She continued, “I’m Dominican, I’m short, I’m rough, I’m aggressive, but I never put my hands on you. But people don’t know that. They see what they see, and that’s OK, too, you know what I’m saying? I know I can sleep at night.”

She added, “It’s like people to say that, but that’s like saying I wore a short dress, so I deserved to get raped.”