Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Atlanta is packed with mostly female reality stars and pseudo stars, from the "Real Housewives" to "Love & Hip Hop" to "R&B Divas Atlanta" to "Married to Medicine."
Now welcome the "exes" of three famous Atlanta singers (Usher, Ne-Yo, Cee Lo Green), a former Falcons play (Ray Buchanan) and one big-time actor and comic who isn't really from Atlanta but does spend time here to shoot films (Kevin Hart).
They are part of VH1's "Atlanta Exes," which debuts Monday night at 9 p.m., following the network's most popular show "Love & Hip Hop Atlanta." (VH1 is also offering the episode early on its website here.)
It's a spinoff of "Hollywood Exes."
The women get to tell their sides of the story about their personal lives with their more famous halves.
I previewed the first episode airing Monday night, which opens with mini-biographies of each woman.
The most well known of the ladies is Tameka Raymond, the ex-wife of Atlanta R&B star Usher.
Her courtship (2001), marriage (2002), divorce (2007) and custody battles were fodder for the tabloids. A tragic drowning of her son Kile only added to her pathos.
She created a charity foundation Kiles World for her son and uses it as a way to honor him and grieve. But two year's after his death, she is clearly not over the death.
VH1 originally asked her to be on "Hollywood Exes" but she said no way because she lives in Atlanta. She said they offered New York. Still no go. So they finally created an Atlanta-based show. She suggested Menyatta Shaw and Sheree Buchanan, two women who were already friends of hers.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Menyatta Shaw dated Ne-Yo for four years and have two children. While engaged, they never married. She said they broke up last year. He did it over the phone, she said. "He wasn't ready for a monogamous relationship," she said. Most awkwardly, they still live together though she said it's easier for the kids. On the show, she said she is trying to ready herself to date again.
Torrei Hart, the ex-wife of Kevin Hart, is an import, sort of like Kenya Moore on "Real Housewives." They were married for eight plus years and she met him before he was famous in Philadelphia. They have two children. She said he had an affair that ended their relationship two years ago. "I decided to move to Atlanta and start fresh and further my career" in comedy, she explained in the first episode. She said in an interview in June not to expect Hart to appear on screen during the show.
"I love Atlanta," she said in June. "I'm going to get a place here. For one, I met four amazing women. And people have treated me so well. The food is excellent."
Since her divorce happened in L.A., she really was in a "fishbowl." TMZ has been on her case, of course.
Christina Johnson was married to Cee Lo Green for five years before he became big but she said as he became more famous, he changed. They divorced when Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" was popular. She said they were still in love, though, so she's had difficulty moving on. Christina, who has similar taste in clothing with Cee Lo, wants to start dating others but Cee Lo isn't too keen about that. (He is the only one of the exes dudes to show up in the first episode.)
"We clicked immediately," she said. "We both have that really crazy style, alternative and fun. We have a lot of fun. We'll always be family."
Sheree Buchanan is the only athlete's wife of the bunch. She married Ray Buchanan, who played cornerback and safety for 11 years in the NFL, mostly for the Atlanta Falcons. She said on the show that he kind of "lost himself" after he retired in 2004. She is now on the prowl and likes her men beefy and linebacker like. No "shorties" for her! And she likes'em young. "I love nice tight thighs - and arms," she notes.
They first gather together as a group in the first episode where Tameka is supposedly packing up to leave her massive home with Usher. They are going to "help' her pack. But she has barely started.
Like an episode of "Hoarders," Tameka has trouble "letting go" of her stuff, which symbolizes her marriage. She also thinks her pain is deeper than the others, which offends them. How can she judge other people's suffering? She uses her son's death as the trumping measure.
"This is not a contest," Torrei said.
The bottom line: Tameka is very opinionated and judgmental, which makes her unpleasant to be around but stirs the pot for a show like this. There were rumors she got so angry, she quit at one point. In an interview, she denied that, saying she never stopped shooting. Torrei gets into it with Tameka relatively quickly because she thinks Tameka has a stank-a** attitude.
Here's the video I did with the quintet three months ago:
And here is episode No. 1 if you'd like to watch it early:
TV preview
"Atlanta Exes"
9 p.m., Mondays starting August 18, VH1
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