(CNN) — Ten years ago on April 25, the life of TLC group member Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes was tragically cut short at the age of 30 after she was killed in a car crash in Honduras.
And while this date is referred to as the 10-year “anniversary” of Lopes’ death, the two surviving members of the seminal hip-hop/R&B group, Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas, say “anniversary” isn’t quite the right word.
In a statement on PitchEngine.com that was tweeted by Chilli, T-Boz says that “the word anniversary means a celebration. For us her death will never be a celebration, it’s still something that hurts.”
Chilli concurs, adding that Left Eye “is our sister. You never get over losing a family member. We love her and we miss her and that isn’t ever going to change.”
While this year marks the decade that’s passed since Left Eye’s death, it’s also the 20th anniversary for TLC. Chilli and T-Boz are planning to commemorate the milestone with tour dates, a new album and a biopic about the group that’s set to roll out on VH1.
“It’s going to be like a movie-of-the-week on VH1,” Chilli explained to Essence.com. “I’m really excited about it, this was a dream of mine.”
As far as casting, T-Boz told Essence that “it’s going to have to be new kids; I can’t think of anybody that can play us. It’s not just about looking like me or dressing like me, you have to have the attitude, the dance moves.”
Kate Lanier, who penned the screenplays for “What’s Love Got to Do With It” and “Set It Off,” is tackling the TLC biopic script, and T-Boz hopes the movie will be out before the end of 2012.
In the meantime, though, the two are being supported by fans, who’ve also reached out to Chilli via Twitter to share their condolences.
“Thank u all so much for ur kind words,” the singer posted Tuesday afternoon. “[A]nd thank u for always remembering our sister, ‘Lisa Left Eye Lopes’ TLC is 4eva!!!!!”
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