“Real Housewives” and political activism are not as common a pairing as “Real Housewives” and petty arguments. But this is 2020, and Porsha Williams has the spotlight this first episode as a woman awakened by her sense of social justice and her own civil rights lineage.
Porsha, when introduced to the show in 2012 at age 32, was seen as a timid, naive woman who seemed only mildly engaged with her late grandfather’s charity Hosea Feed the Hungry and Homeless (now named Hosea Helps). In late 2013, an episode aired where the other housewives had to correct her when she thought the Underground Railroad — a network of secret routes and safe houses used to move slaves to free states in the early 19th century — involved an actual railroad.
That embarrassing gaff has trailed Porsha for years, but this year, she found herself angered and inspired to hit the streets following the death of George Floyd, followed by protests against the senseless death of Breonna Taylor. She was hit with tear gas in the streets of Atlanta, then ended up getting arrested in Louisville, Kentucky, during a Taylor protest. The New York Times wrote a bracing profile of her finding her voice in the world of racial injustice.
So, her shaky relationship with her fiancé Dennis McKinley took a backseat this episode and focused on Porsha’s outrage and how she has matured in her 30s.
“I’m a mother now,” she said on the show. Her daughter “means the world to me. If something were to happen to her, I’d never be able to exist. It was immediate for me to educate myself about our history and activate my activism for my daughter’s future.”
Her brief time in jail, she said, was enlightening as she shared her soul with strangers for a common cause. “It changed my life,” she said. “We were sharing because a soul had been lost.”
This is not to make light of what the other three returning women are going through. Here’s a quick update. (It appears Bravo began taping in August, several weeks later than normal, which is why the show is starting two months later than usual.)
Kenya Moore
She is still technically married to New York restaurateur Marc Daly. When “Real Housewives” shot its remote reunion show in the spring, Kenya’s marriage was on the brink, but she was not quite ready to pull the trigger and file papers. The pandemic did her relationship with him no favors. She would visit him in New York, and Marc would have supervised visits with their daughter Brooklyn. But based on what Kenya told the other ladies, whatever love he had for her seemed long gone. He was characteristically nasty, exacerbated by the pandemic hitting his restaurant business hard. She just seemed resistant to throwing in the towel completely and acknowledge the marriage was an ajbect failure except for the arrival of Brooklyn.
Moore met with a divorce attorney Antavius Weems, and he gave her a couple of options: a separation agreement in court to ensure custody rights, followed by divorce or a straight divorce filing. “I don’t want her to lose her dad,” she said. The attorney tried to buck her up. : “Stop being self-deprecating over this dude. You literally eat yourself because of this dude. His failure is not your failure. His failure is his failure. You got to fight back dawg!”
There was a classic Bravo editing moment when Kenya claimed to be a “great communicator,” followed by a series of past moments where she hurled nasty insults at other housewife cast members over the years.
Cynthia Bailey
She is prepping for a Nov. 10 marriage with sportscaster Marc Hill, but the pandemic has her worried given restrictions on large gatherings. Hill said he would rather keep the date and have a small wedding now, a big reception later. She wants all her friends to see her during such a happy day and is more tempted to postpone. There is definite tension during the conversation but the love seems real. [As reported, the wedding did ultimately take place Nov. 10, but Bravo chose not to film it because weather forced the wedding indoors and the crew was uncomfortable with the circumstances.]
“I want all of it,” Cynthia said on the show during the summer shoot. “I deserve all of it.”
To the Bravo cameras, she recalled her first marriage to Peter Thomas a decade earlier was super stressful because many of her family members did not approve and her sister even tried to hide the marriage certificate from her. This was all documented on the show, which didn’t make things easier. She divorced Peter in 2017.
Marc: “You do. Am I not enough?”
Cynthia: “You are enough!”
Marc: “You have to ask yourself: do you want a marriage, or do you really want a wedding?”
Kandi Burruss
She remains as busy as ever as an entrepreneur. She is now also raising two very young children — Ace and Blaze. Blaze came via surrogate a year ago. Her older daughter Riley is now about to go to college in New York. Kandi and her husband, Todd Tucker, are also planning a new steakhouse off Cascade Road in Southwest Atlanta following the success of Old Lady Gang restaurant in Castleberry Hill. Kandi and Todd appear to have a secure marriage, based on what the Bravo cameras have shown.
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