Originally posted Monday, April 6, 2020 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
Kenya Moore, typically the life of the party on "The Real Housewives of Atlanta," is in no partying mood this episode.
Her husband Marc Daly announced to the world that their marriage was ending and after the trip to Greece, she is attempting to pick up the pieces.
That means juggling duties for the reality show, her business and her daughter. She meets with her estate planner to figure out how to create a trust for her daughter.
At her home, she commiserates with her aunt Lisa about how to handle life in general.
“I’m not even sure how to make visitation work,” Kenya says.
She is feeling major loss over Marc’s absence from her life despite the often negative dynamics.
“One of my issues with him is not being able to have a conversation without yelling and anger and crossing lines,” Kenya says. “I know how hard I fought for this marriage... I was trying to so hard to be everything he wanted me to be.”
Kenya believes Marc isn’t totally open to her. He even creates odd boundaries like not letting her speak to his parents.
“Nobody deserves to be in a miserable situation,” Lisa says.
Kenya asks Lisa to take care of Kenya’s daughter Brooklyn in case anything happens to both Kenya and Marc.
Hypocrisy call out: NeNe Leakes complains to husband Gregg about Kenya hypocrisy. During the Greece trip, Kenya said NeNe was dead to her because she had insulted Kenya's kid and husband. Yet, NeNe noted, Kenya has had no problem insulting others' family members. The producers aired some specific examples e.g. Kenya talking about Porsha Williams' marriage with Kordell Stewart six years ago and Kenya discussing one of Kim Zolciak's daughter two years ago.
Meanwhile... NeNe has at least reached a point with Cynthia Bailey where they can hang and joke around again. And Porsha and NeNe are cool courtesy of the Grecian trip reconciliation.
But... NeNe has no problem sussing out some celebrity dirt regarding Marc Daly possibly cheating on Kenya.
A marriage to envy? Kandi Burruss is definitely a woman of ambition. She has parlayed her "Real Housewives" gig to expand into retail clothing, restaurants, a sex toy business, an online TV show, an Xscape reunion, appearances on other reality shows, spinoff shows, et. al. And now she wants to get into acting and nabbed a dramatic role in Showtime's "The Chi" shot in Chicago.
Her husband Todd Tucker is fine with the acting even as a surrogate child is coming soon. He says that even though he's uncomfortable with Kandi's sex scene in "The Chi," he is supportive of her acting endeavors.
Over the years, their marriage appears to be one of the healthiest as they support each other with each other’s projects.
Even their arguments don’t seem toxic.
During the episode, Kandi even asks if Todd is open to a marriage counselor, and he is good with it.
But the sacrifices... Kandi over the years has struggled with work-life balance. Her toddler son, Ace, during a video chat, starts crying: "I want my mommy." (For little kids, video is not exactly a fair substitute for a kiss and a hug.)
“I feel like I suck as a parent sometimes,” Kandi says with a sigh.
And later, when she is home from Chicago shooting the TV show for a couple of days, she tells Todd she accepted an invite to host a luncheon for women in entertainment business. She says it was a good networking opportunity.
This gave Todd an easy opening: “You need to do more networking with your family.”
“I’m trying to make everything work,” Kandi says.
But Todd makes it clear; he wants him and her two kids to be a priority, not just something on her lengthy checklist of things to do.
“I love my kids, but I want to spend time with you,” he says.
“I want to spend time with you, too,” she says.
“Act like it,” Todd says.
Todd also airs his own personal issues.
“I sacrifice a lot to support your dreams,” Todd says. He felt pressure after they got married to make a lot of money so he could feel “equal” to her. She hates that folks—including her mom—saw him as a “gold digger” early on in their relationship.
Todd says he’s not totally happy despite making a lot of money because his heart is in TV production.
She hugs him and cries.
It’s a tough conversation , but they express themselves openly and without anger. If every marital interaction went like this, there would be no divorces!
Porsha works with a charity: Porsha was named a celebrity ambassador for the March of Dimes and being a mom who had a difficult time having a child; it's a charity she connected with.
She holds a discussion gathering where all the castmates show up to talk about women’s issues. She discloses a miscarriage she had six years prior.
Other women open up. Tanya Sams tearfully relates meeting her mate later in life and not having a lot of egg reserves. Marlo Hampton has 16 nieces and nephews and expresses her own frustrations not being able to have her own child, a rare moment of vulnerability from a woman known for her rabble rousing.
In separate interviews, Kenya says she almost died giving birth to Brooklyn, and NeNe acknowledged a past miscarriage herself.
The ladies do once in awhile get together and bond—and avoid bickering. This was one of those days.
TRAILER FOR NEXT WEEK: NeNe and Gregg get it on. Kenya packs up Marc's things at her home. Porsha and her fiancé Dennis argue over the wedding. Kandi and Todd have marital counseling.
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