'TLC Forever' is an often compelling reveal of TLC, now

TLC's look, hit songs and 'we-can-battle-with-the-guys' dance moves distinguished the Atlanta trio in the 1990s, but a new documentary proves their impact lives on.

TLC Forever, the Lifetime/A&E special that debuted over the weekend, continues where VH1's Behind the Music (1999) and a 2013 biopic, CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story, left off.

The documentary marks the first time the two surviving members, singers Tionne 'T-Boz' Watkins and Rozonda 'Chilli' Thomas, talk about what they have endured and accomplished since they last recorded with late rapper Lisa 'Left-Eye' Lopes more than two decades ago.

The film answers questions about how Watkins and Thomas responded when news broke about Lopes' fatal automobile accident in Honduras on April 25, 2002: Who called whom with the news? Which member didn't believe it, at first? What it was like seeing the 30-year-old they saw as their sister in a casket, at her wake? And what happened, when the two singers recently returned to New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Ga. — where thousands mourned Lopes in 2002 — to remember out loud the moment Lopes' mother saw them at the service?

"She almost fainted," Watkins says in the documentary. "Without Lisa sitting in between us, [her mother] kind of fell back, almost."

The storyline also follows the personal and industry struggles Watkins and Thomas have faced.

"We kind of felt forced to go back into the studio after Lopes died," Watkins says in one scene. "We were given an ultimatum ... What do you say [when told], 'Like, if you don’t come out [with new music] we’re just gonna do whatever we want with your career?' That couldn’t happen."

Viewers also get a rare glimpse of who the singers are as mothers, with Thomas's son Tron making an appearance and footage of Watkins's daughter and son, Chase and Chance, on display.

Regarding the trio's legacy, TLC Forever makes it clear the group's music has longevity. And if ever there was doubt T-Boz, Left-Eye and Chilli personified 'Girl Power' before it became synonymous with The Spice Girls — and still do so in these days of Beyhives, Swifties and Rihanna Navys — Watkins proves it with her courageous decision to pull back the curtain on multiple health issues in the documentary.

Fans have long known she has sickle cell anemia, a disease that kept her in and out of the hospital the first seven years of her life, Watkins says. Then, "right before Lisa passed, I was in the hospital for four months, fighting for my life. I almost passed away. My organs were failing."

Five years later, recurring severe migraines sent her back to the doctor. The diagnosis: a brain tumor.

"The hardest part for me was the four days that I didn’t  know exactly what was in my head," Watkins recalls. "I didn’t know if it was cancerous. I didn’t know if I was gonna die ... So my prayer was that I wouldn’t be afraid."

"I just remember being depressed for some years," she continues. "I still have paralysis."

But as a member of a Grammy-winning group that's seen the heights of being the best-selling female group in music, a bankruptcy at that same time and a tragic death, Watkins says: "The fight kicks in." 

TLC Forever premiered on Lifetime on June 3 and can be streamed via the Lifetime app or Lifetime TV on platforms such as Philo, DirectTV Stream, Vidgo and SlingTV.