Around the same time that Martin Lawrence’s marriage to wife Patricia was imploding, a similar situation was unfolding with his make-believe TV wife on the set of “Martin.” In January 1997, the Los Angeles Times reported that Tisha Campbell, Lawrence’s “Martin” co-star, announced she was quitting the show due to “intolerable” conditions, after walking off the set the previous November and refusing to return. HBO, which produced the series for Fox, filed for a temporary restraining order that would force her back to work; she countersued, alleging sexual battery and sexual harassment. That suit was settled out of court, and Campbell and Lawrence were able to bury the hatchet long enough to film the final episodes before the series ended that May. At the time, reported Variety, Lawrence insisted the show concluded because he wanted it to.
In a 2020 interview with GQ, Lawrence dismissed the narrative that his behavior had anything to do with the show’s cancellation as “bulls**t,” telling the magazine, “I just decided to end it. People said that I got cancelled, but that wasn’t the case. I decided to just leave the show,” he explained.
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Campbell subsequently appeared on daytime show “The Talk,” where she was asked about Lawrence’s remarks. Campbell noted that she couldn’t comment because of a confidentiality agreement, but implied Lawrence’s spin was inaccurate. “But what I can say is… I was actually kind of shocked,” Campbell said, via Essence.
