Monica: 'The Boy Is Mine sparked real feud with Brandy'

R&B star Monica's hit duet with Brandy, The Boy Is Mine, sparked a real life rivalry between them in the late 1990s.

The Grammy-winning song featured the two singers fighting over a fictional boyfriend, and fans were eager to find out the identity of the man in the center of it all.

But as listeners began to pick sides between the two, soon enough life imitated art and Monica and Brandy found themselves in a real feud, which had nothing to do with romance.

"It started off as brilliant marketing, and people started creating these skits, and then our fans divided, and it became this real thing," she confessed to HuffPost Live on Monday (14Dec15). "People are still asking, 'Who got the boy?,' and there was no boy! We played up the dramatics of it all, but we were 16 and 17! There was no boy, no beef."

However, the rivalry didn't last for long, and they even recorded another duet, It All Belongs to Me, in 2012. Now, Monica says they have learned to appreciate and respect each other's careers nearly 18 years after their initial dispute.

"But now as us being adults, it doesn't exist," Monica insisted. "Brandy makes amazing music, so why would I tell a fan of mine that you can't support her? It's really frustrating. I am a huge supporter of everyone in the business, especially her. We know that as differently as we are, there's room for both of us. I absolutely wish the best for her, because I know what that journey is like. I know what that life is like."