Martin Lawrence Says Lawsuit Caused Him To Leave ‘Martin’

Martin Lawrence is opening up about why his iconic hit show Martin came to an abrupt ending.

In 2018, Lawrence and his co-stars Tisha Campbell, who played his girlfriend in the sitcom, and Tichina Arnold, reunited for the first time in two decades after Campbell’s controversial sexual harassment lawsuit against him.

In 1997, Campbell’s suit claimed she experienced “obsessive” physical and emotional abuse from Lawrence, including “repeated and escalating sexual harassment, sexual battery and violent threats.” Martin denied the allegations.

Now, he’s reflecting on the situation. During his latest interview with GQ, he claims the lawsuit is what ended Martin, which was aired from 1992 to 1997.

“You did the show for five seasons, right? How come it ended?” Zach Baron, the interviewer, asked.

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“Well, how can I say this? It just was time to end,” Lawrence replied. “Let’s just put it that way. It was just, at that time, there was some, um, there were some things that was being said that—”

“You’re talking about Tisha Campbell’s lawsuit?” said Baron.

“Yeah. Yeah,” Lawrence said, before confirming he’s been spending more time with the actress. “Yeah. Because none of that was true. It was all a lot of bulls**t and — just whoever’s side it was, it was bulls**t.

“We don’t need to talk about something that just didn’t happen,” he continued. “So I just decided to walk away from the show. I just decided to end it. People said that I got canceled, but that wasn’t the case. I decided to just leave the show.”

All is well now. Martin Lawrence said his relationship with Tisha Campbell was never bad from his point of view. “I love Tisha,” he said. “I’ve seen her then and now, now and then, always with nothing but love. I have nothing but love for her, and I always have.”