Toni Braxton performed at The Paley Center for Media’s Annual Los Angeles Benefit at The Rooftop Of The Lot in West Hollywood, California last week (October 22, 2012).

The soulful songstress also recently appeared on VH1’s Behind the Music, where she speaks of how her 1998 appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show felt like the beginning of the downfall of her music career.

Braxton, who filed for bankruptcy prior to her appearance on the popular daytime talk show, details how she was “reprimanded” by the media mogul for her lavish spending habits and basically made to feel like sh*t during the interview.

Details + watch the “Oprah” segment of Toni’s “Behind The Music” episode…

Toni speaks of her 1998 appearance on Oprah’s show, stating:

She was so frickin’ mean to me. I was in shock.

I couldn’t believe it ‘cause I loved her so much. I admired her and looked up to her and she pretty much reprimanded me.

She says to me, ‘I heard you have Gucci flatware. I’m Oprah Winfrey and I don’t have Gucci flatware’.

You ain’t got Gucci flatware because you didn’t want to buy it, not because you couldn’t afford it! What do you mean?

And immediately she made me feel this big. That moment completely changed my career. It made people look down on me. (source)

For the record, Toni’s still struggling through money issues so maybe Oprah’s “reprimand” was meant to guide her towards a better way of viewing dollars and cents.

(Just a thought.)

On a related note, bankruptcy trustees are currently accusing Braxton of inappropriately transferring money to her ex-husband that should have been used to pay off some of her creditors.

TMZ is reporting that Braxton fraudulently transferred over $53,000 to her estranged husband, Keri Lewis, in order to avoid paying back creditors in her bankruptcy case.

New documents have been filed in Toni’s ongoing bankruptcy case alleging that Lewis received the large sum of money AFTER Toni’s money was already earmarked to repay her creditors.

Toni filed for her 2nd bankruptcy in 2010, claiming she owed between $10 million and $50 million in debts.

Braxton’s bankruptcy trustee is now suing Lewis to recover the monies that Braxton transferred over to his accounts.

A rep for Braxton is denying the accusations and states:

“All of the payments made to Lewis prior to Toni’s bankruptcy filing were appropriate transfers for reasonable and necessary personal and business expenses in the ordinary course of her business.”

The rep adds Toni will continue to provide the trustee whatever info is needed to address the allegation.

Welp… it doesn’t look good for Toni’s “secret stash”….

What do you think of Braxton’s recent Oprah revelation?