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background when you're on the phone like, I hope you hear that." We laugh 'cause we've all done that. Our conversation transitions to love, and how times have changed since the 90s. "Men weren't afraid to come out and say, 'I wanna love you, girl. I wanna be this man for you and I'm sorr y I broke your hear t.' They wore their hear t on their sleeve. I feel like nowadays, ever ybody's tough. Ever ybody's scared to love. Ever y thing is independent. Independent. Independent. Which I get. I'm an independent woman myself. But, we all want to love, I don't care what mess we talk. We all want to love and be loved. And once we put that pride and that fear aside, it's a beautiful thing. I would love to sing about that, because that's what I desire most," she says wist fully while pouring a tiny bag of raisins into her oatmeal. Showing her vulnerability on this record was a challenge for LeToya, but she got there with a team of great writers. Girl talk with Chase, who's from her hometown, Houston, helped the cathartic writing process along. "She understands where I was coming from…'Cause it was like, this is what we go through, especially when you love hard and it doesn't work out and you're like, 'Damn, was I wrong for this?" Her favorite song, "Disconnected," is incredibly vulnerable – and strips away all the trimmings to showcase her voice with the piano. "I wanted people to hear how upset I was about the fact I had lost that feeling of that connection with somebody and I feared losing it forever. I would do anything to get it back." A songwriter since childhood, LeToya says she's always been able to express herself best on paper. She would jot down thoughts, songs, and poems whenever inspiration struck her at school or in her room. While a part of Destiny's Child, she co-wrote their hit songs, including, "Bills, Bills, Bills," "Bug a Boo," and "Say My Name" from their The Writing's on the Wall (1999) album. This album was my jam growing up, and was always playing in my car, so I absolutely had to have LeToya sign the album's CD cover. Destiny Child's songs got me through my teens. "It makes me feel good, it really, really does, 'cause we were just four girls in a room, sitting there giggling, and just trying to come up with great ideas, man. It wasn't about fame. It was just like, God has given us all a gift, and how beautiful is it that we can all come together and share it together. And with the songwriting," she laughs, "I don't even know how at 14, 15, we were talking about this stuff, but weren't even really going through nothing. Can you pay my bills? We didn't have no bills! We still live with our mamas. What are we talking about? Not to say we hadn't experienced heartbreak, I was around 14 when I got my heartbroken for the first time by a little boy, so I knew what it felt like. I was familiar with it enough to help write a record, which turned out to be a hit, so that's awesome," she says with a big smile. Yes, the ladies of Destiny's Child are in touch –actually, LeToya just saw them the week before. "Every time I see her [Beyoncé], we give each other a genuine hug. We're both running and doing our own thing, but when we stop and have that moment to just catch up, I love those moments with her. We don't get to share them often, but when we do, it's always great. I'm so proud of her. I'm so happy for her. Honey, she's about to have some babies. I'm like, 'We're grown, for real,'" she laughs. "Everybody is grown. We're finally living out those songs. It's so cool to see each girl out there killing it on her own and I love that we can all support each other." Outside of music, LeToya's acting career has been thriving. She was on FOX's Rosewood as Rosie's —played by Morris Chestnut— love interest, Tawnya. "My last couple of episodes I flipped out when I saw the scenes. I was like, 'Whoa! This is where we're taking my character? Alright.' But it was so much fun playing that character. Tawnya was a piece of work,'" she laughs. When fans found out that she and her partner scammed Rosie, they let her hear it via social media. "They're like, 'How could you do that to Rosie?' I was like, 'Hey, guys? Guys? This is a show. I didn't really do that, Tawnya did. So, easy on my Instagram! But it was cool. That just lets me know I did my job." She can relate, and even admits feeling the same way about Scar after seeing The Lion King on Broadway the day before. "Scar, the guy in the play, he did such a great job, when it came for the applause at the end, I was like, Mmmm." She shakes her head no. "Nope," she laughs. "I was so burned out. 'Yo, you know he's an actor, right? 'Cause you're an actor and that's how this works.' But I believed him." She giggles. "I get the being mad at the bad guy." You can also watch LeToya portray Rochelle in Greenleaf alongside Oprah