Tyrese Gibson is giving a surprising backstory to one of his biggest R&B songs, saying Kim Kardashian was part of the inspiration behind his 2002 hit “How You Gonna Act Like That.”
During an appearance on The Kenny Burns Show, Tyrese recalled living with Kardashian and her then-husband, producer Damon Thomas, while he was working on the album that would eventually feature the song.
“You know, I lived with Damon and Kim when I worked on that album,” Tyrese said. “I lived with them for three years.”
The song appeared on Tyrese’s 2002 album I Wanna Go There, with Thomas receiving a co-writing credit.
The conversation took an unexpected turn when host Kenny Burns asked Tyrese about what he witnessed while living with the couple.
“I’ll leave it at this: When everything happened with Ray J, I was there,” Tyrese said. “I seen all of it.”
Burns then asked whether Tyrese meant that he had witnessed the filming of Kardashian’s sex tape with Ray J.
Tyrese immediately clarified his wording.
“No, no, no,” he responded. “Meaning like, I was there whenever that sex tape happened.”
“Damon was my brother,” he added. “I was literally at the crib. Everything happened in real time and I was there.”
Tyrese’s comments then connected the early-2000s drama directly to the song’s central question.
Burns noted that “How You Gonna Act Like That” was included at No. 51 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 Greatest R&B Songs of the 21st Century. Tyrese said he had not known about the ranking before explaining the personal inspiration behind the track.
“I never knew that,” Tyrese said.
He then explained what was behind the song’s memorable theme.
“It was inspired by wondering, how did she act like that while she was with Damon?” he said.
Kardashian and Thomas filed for divorce in 2003. Kardashian later dated Ray J, and their relationship became the subject of intense public attention.
According to the supplied material, the sex tape involving Kardashian and Ray J was filmed in 2003 and publicly released in 2007.
Tyrese’s account adds a very different layer to “How You Gonna Act Like That.” What listeners heard as a relationship-focused R&B hit now comes with the singer’s recollection of events unfolding around him while he was living with Kardashian and Thomas.
For Tyrese, the revelation connects a defining song from his early-2000s career to a chapter of Kardashian’s life that would later become one of the most widely discussed celebrity stories of that era.
