Flo's Last Day as a Supreme

[midnightman]

Maybe she shouldn't have. But he didn't have to act the way that he did either. Gordy was the boss. Diana didn't have the power to kick Flo out. That was Gordy's doing. Also remember this all took place more than 50 years ago. These people are elderly. Nobody but a handful of Soulful Detroiters even seem to care. All the Supremes are over it.

Also here is what people seem to forget: the Supremes became world famous only a couple of years after high school. Diana and Mary were child prodigies and Flo barely an adult, been together since 15-16 years old.

They put all their hopes on Berry Gordy to make them stars. Gordy used and manipulated at least two of them while the other had her skepticism about him. Florence was only 24 when she was fired.

Honestly none of us can be a fly on the wall to what was going on but show business is a cutthroat world and if you show any vulnerability, they take advantage of that. Florence went through so much after being raped, her drive for stardom almost overwhelmed her especially after the group stopped being so close.

Mary and her cousin concluded that Flo didn't do the right thing either. It would've helped if Gordy and Diana weren't so success driven but no one knew how to deal with Florence's problems.

[marv2]

Also here is what people seem to forget: the Supremes became world famous only a couple of years after high school. Diana and Mary were child prodigies and Flo barely an adult, been together since 15-16 years old.

They put all their hopes on Berry Gordy to make them stars. Gordy used and manipulated at least two of them while the other had her skepticism about him. Florence was only 24 when she was fired.

Honestly none of us can be a fly on the wall to what was going on but show business is a cutthroat world and if you show any vulnerability, they take advantage of that. Florence went through so much after being raped, her drive for stardom almost overwhelmed her especially after the group stopped being so close.

Mary and her cousin concluded that Flo didn't do the right thing either. It would've helped if Gordy and Diana weren't so success driven but no one knew how to deal with Florence's problems.

Ahh they could have been nicer. They acted like a bunch of assholes towards that woman. Calling her fat, drunk, lazy and not really being sick when she was sick, not letting her sing any leads,threatening to expose the fact that she had not graduated from high school to the public and on and on, etc.

[midnightman]

Ahh they could have been nicer. They acted like a bunch of assholes towards that woman. Calling her fat, drunk, lazy and not really being sick when she was sick, not letting her sing any leads,threatening to expose the fact that she had not graduated from high school to the public and on and on, etc.

Let's not act like the Supremes and Motown are the only act where childish antics happened now... they just happened to be the most famous act where this occurred. I'm not making excuses for them, they WERE rude and mean, but this wasn't that unique. I've read biographies of other groups who treated their mates ten times worse and yet they still reunite every now and then!

[RanRan79]

Ahh they could have been nicer. They acted like a bunch of assholes towards that woman. Calling her fat, drunk, lazy and not really being sick when she was sick, not letting her sing any leads,threatening to expose the fact that she had not graduated from high school to the public and on and on, etc.

On this we agree. Some of what has been described is absolutely crazy, and she's supposed to ignore that? I get that there was a better way to handle things, but I really think people are missing what Florence was really dealing with. The least of her Motown problems was not singing a lead. What was going on between her and Gordy was deeper than that.

[marv2]

On this we agree. Some of what has been described is absolutely crazy, and she's supposed to ignore that? I get that there was a better way to handle things, but I really think people are missing what Florence was really dealing with. The least of her Motown problems was not singing a lead. What was going on between her and Gordy was deeper than that.

It was done intentionally! The issue was NOT about handling things differently. That was the bullshit line they put out there starting in the late 70s in regards to the Florence Ballard story. Into the 80s, they tried to put the brunt of the blame of Florence because of how she had "handled" things. The truth is they slowly tortured that girl. Even tried to make her think she was losing her mind or that she had gotten as big as a house. I dare anyone to show me a picture of Florence Ballard fat as one of the Supremes!