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At the peak of their fame, fans saw Fifth Harmony as five young women who were best friends. We now know that that was not the case. Since their breakup, former Fifth Harmony members have come clean about the drama and toxicity behind the scenes. The latest former member to speak out is Ally Brooke.

You may remember Ally Brooke (née Hernandez) as the Mexicana that Simon Cowell considered the “glue that held the group together.” Unfortunately, the pressure of being the peacemaker was no easy task for Ally.

In a recent episode of her new podcast The Ally Brooke Show, Ally Brooke revealed that she “didn’t enjoy” her time in Fifth Harmony. “We will be in the history books. That’s pretty incredible. We had hits, such anthems and great songs,” she said. “But just being honest, because I feel like having my own show calls for me to just be real and open with you guys…I hate saying this. My time in Fifth Harmony, I didn’t enjoy it. I didn’t love it.”

Ally Brooke continued: “It was hard because there was so much going on — so much behind-the-scenes, so much toxicity, so much abuse, so much abuse of power, so much mental abuse, verbal abuse. It’s horrible, and to me it’s a shame, because we were so big. I should have enjoyed myself more. I did so much for the group.”

This isn’t the first time former Fifth Harmony band members have come out and said that the years they spent in the mega-band were traumatic.

In October, Lauren Jauregui said that her time in Fifth Harmony was “traumatizing“. Likewise, Normani has said she was “scarred” from her time in the group–mostly from racist trolls who considered themselves fans of Camilla Cabello. Cabello fans sent Normani “Photoshopped images of her being lynched” and death threats.

Ally Brooke seems to imply that it wasn’t just the pressure of fame, but the group dynamics that were so toxic. “It was tough because I didn’t trust anybody around me, a lot of people that were in our circle,” she said. “It really damaged me for quite some time, and for quite a while. I don’t want to hang onto the negative, but I have to be honest,”

Ultimately, Ally Brooke is grateful for the experience overall. “It changed my life,” she said. It’s a balance of being grateful but also being okay with the fact that things were not okay for me.”

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Part 2 of Netflix’s “Selena: The Series,” is currently streaming, which means fans of the late Tejano singer are getting a chance to learn more about her origin stories. In the second part of the series, fans can expect to see more of the icon’s tragically brief but beautifully successful life. The new episodes chronicle Selena Quintanilla’s rise as a superstar and will no doubt make fans of the singer feel a deep sense of love for her.

Particularly when it comes to one episode in particular!

Part 2’s episode 6, called “Lo Más Bello,” sees the lives of two superstars collide.

pause they wrote miss tina and childhood beyoncé into the selena script 😭 pic.twitter.com/O0Kuo5kthE

— no (@afroelven) May 4, 2021

The endearing episode sees Selena, played by Christian Serratos, on a shopping trip to an outdoor mall with her mother and sister. It’s then that the young singer catches the eye of a young girl who is also with her mother and sister.

Perhaps it’s real seeing real, but in either case in this episode, the young girl stops to gaze at Selena. She’s star-struck. In the episode, the young girl’s mother asks who she’s looking at and the girl replies, “Selena, a famous singer. Be quiet!”

Knowing that her daughter is a singer herself, the mother encourages her to introduce herself. Of course, the young girl is too shy to say hello but she does wave.

When Selena walks away, the young girl’s mother reveals a fun twist when she says “Beyoncé Knowles, you better learn not to be afraid of people if you ever want to be famous too.”

Like we said…

Real recognizing real.

While it might seem like the producers took creative liberty, it turns out they actually didn’t. And it makes sense. Fans of Selena and Beyoncé know that the two singers are Texan-icons.

In a recent interview for MTV Trés, Beyoncé revealed that she actually did see Selena, in the Galleria Mall in Houston. “I didn’t say much to Selena because I wasn’t a celebrity,” Beyoncé said in an interview for MTV Trés back in the day. “I just saw her and said hello and kept it moving. Definitely growing up in Texas I heard her on the radio, and I think listening to her album, even though I didn’t know exactly what she was saying, it helped me in the studio with my pronunciation.”

Fans of the Texan starlets might also remember how Beyonce, in a 2007 interview with People en Español, spoke about her love of Selena.

At the time, Beyoncée was celebrating her re-release of six Spanish-language tracks. “I listened to Selena all the time” she recalled at the time of the interview. “She’s close to me because of where I’m from.”

Both “Selena: The Series” Parts 1 and 2 are streaming right now on Netflix! Check them out!

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