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The internet is unpredictable, which is the only way to explain a clip that‘s more than 10 years old becoming one of today’s hottest topics. Now, a decade-old video of Timbaland--in which he makes some questionable comments about Aaliyah--is making the rounds all across social media.
In December 2011, the Virginia native‘s E! True Hollywood Story aired, which included the producer recounting numerous occurrences in his life from childhood to him first making his way into the music industry. Most notably, though, he revealed that he was in love with an artist he used to work with frequently, Aaliyah.
“When I first met Aaliyah, it‘s time for the world to hear this,” he said. “I’ma give up a little secret, I was in love with her. I said, ‘but she’s just a baby, I’m old.’ I said to myself, ‘I’m just gon’ be her brother.’ Oh man, I was fighting. I was fighting a big war but I loved Aaliyah.”
Timbaland met Aaliyah back in 1995, when they worked together on her 1996 project, One in a Million. At the time, Aaliyah was just 16 years old, while the producer was 7 years her senior at 23.
Those aren‘t the only comments Timbaland has made about the late music legend, though. In the past, he’s also admitted to marrying his wife, Monique Idlett, because she resembled Aaliyah.
“When I first met my wife, I knew I was going to marry her because she looked like Aaliyah,” he said, adding that he thought he saw a ghost when he first spotted Monique.
Interestingly enough, this isn‘t the first time these very comments have garnered some negative attention online. In 2019, when the Surviving R. Kelly docuseries aired on Lifetime, Timbaland’s comments were similarly circulating. As the documentary pointed out the strange dynamic between Aaliyah and R. Kelly, whom she married when she was just 15, fans raised concerns about Timbaland’s admitted feelings toward the teenager.
Timbaland is yet to comment on the chatter surrounding this resurfaced clips, and it‘s unlikely that he will, as he never responded to the backlash when they surfaced nearly two years ago.
Aaliyah died at the age of 22 on August 25, 2001. The aircraft she was on crashed shortly after takeoff from Marsh Harbour Airport on the Abaco Islands of the Bahamas, killing the pilot and all eight passengers on board. Among the victims were Aaliyah and members of her entourage, including a hairdresser, her bodyguard and a record executive. The group had just completed filming of a music video and had chartered the flight to return to Florida.
