Unpretty

Just what makes this apparent human time bomb tick? Born in Philly, Lopes was raised in a household dominated by an alcoholic father, and she gravitated to music as an escape. In 1991, she and T-Boz were in an embryonic version of TLC. They caught the attention of Perri "Pebbles" Reid, then wife of LaFace co-owner L.A. Reid, who became their manager. When Chilli signed on as the third member, TLC was born.While Lopes' first few years with the trio were scandal-free, her reputation as a loose cannon took hold after she was convicted of torching Rison's house in 1994 (a crime for which she was fined and sentenced to five years' probation). Soon after, she entered rehab for her own drinking problem.

Austin confirms that Lopes was angered to the point of destruction by the fact that none of her songs were chosen for inclusion on FanMail. "She turned in eight songs, and they weren't up to par," he says. "It's crazy, because she'd quit the group, then a couple of days later be like, 'I'm back.'... She cries wolf a lot."

And what of the wolf-child herself? "Wow," she says some days later, when confronted with Chilli's and T-Boz's charges. She takes a few moments to collect her thoughts, then, with seeming indifference to her groupmates frustrations, coolly acknowledges a history of intragroup disagreements. She readily admits to being willful, to missing rehearsals, to being preoccupied with a solo project, and, perhaps most significantly, to quitting TLC. "I guess it was about a year and a half ago, right before we started working on FanMail. The process was taking such a long time, the record company wasn't really adamant about pushing TLC, so that was my attempt to raise eyebrows and get some attention. I wanted to make [LaFace] think, How important is TLC? Is it important enough that if one of us were to leave, you guys would get on the ball? That was my way of doing it. As soon as that happened, chaos broke out. As soon as I sent the letter, T-Boz and Chilli called me and said, 'Please don't leave the group, let's just do it one more time.' I said, 'That's not a problem.' From my perspective, me sending that letter did not take away or add to the relationship me and Chilli and T-Boz had. The problem was that we had different views and we wanted to go in separate directions."

Just how different are those views? Lopes claims she never wanted to tour in the first place. Her TRL sick-out was a form of protest, an unwillingness to play the promotion game. "I don't think [touring] is the best move for us. We have an agreement where we can't make big money decisions unless it's unanimous. But sometimes they like to think that two thirds rule. That's the part that p---ed me off."

Obviously, there is plenty of ill will all around. Given the unpretty picture painted by Chilli and T-Boz (who joke about replacing Left Eye with Virtual Vice if things don't improve), and Left Eye's righteous, if unruly, stance, it'll take a load of tender loving care to hold these women together. The pressure-cooker conditions of their tour — which includes 17 U.S. shows in 1999 and will continue globally through October of next year — won't help. But Austin, for one, is keeping the faith: "At the end of the day, all of them know TLC is their home. Left Eye wants attention. But she knows that if she drops out of this thing, that attention's not gonna be there."

Let's see, how did that song go? Don't go chasing waterfalls....