Credit: Charles Sykes/Bravo
Kenya Moore has twirled her way into a ‘villain’ seat on Real Housewives of Atlanta. The 51-year-old actress would probably call it a throne.
Without a doubt, she is the queen of drama, pointing her scepter of shade at every corner of her kingdom. For certain fans, it seems impossible to imagine the relinquishment of her crown.
Now, however, in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Kenya proclaimed she is presenting a different side of herself on the show, one that is “carefree, happy, funny.”
“I’m the Kenya that I was always meant to be this season,” she revealed, and she insisted she’s “everyone’s friend.”
The star went on to say, “It’s so funny because I think that I got pegged into this villain role and now it’s like, girl, just let someone else have that baton. Here, pass the scepter on. Honey, it’s over for you! I just think I’m back to reclaiming who I was always meant to be on this show. Lighthearted, fun, sassy.”
“I will still tell a b***h off,” she said. “But I do it with such dignity and grace.”
The star believes she was “pegged into that villain role really early, and I just was never able to get out of that … I sort of, in my own way, leaned into it and then it was just like, ‘OK, this is old, because now this really isn’t who I am and I hate that I’m even perceived that way.'”
Kenya then referenced the exit of Porsha Williams (who now has her own spinoff), and she seemingly suggested RHOA has changed because of it.
“It’s a great season,” said Kenya. “It’s well produced, and it definitely got us to be back honest and not– a lot of girls started self-producing and we’ve gotten away from that … And if you watch their show, you can see the show villain versus the real villain.”
Kenya cryptically addressed her complicated relationship with Porsha: “I feel that where we were is … not necessarily by my own doing — especially in the last seasons … I definitely made that offer for peace, extending that olive branch and it was not returned. I realized it wasn’t me at that point and I was ready to move on. And yes, I’m free of that situation and happy for people to move on, too.”
Kenya expressed, “When you do all that you can, and people still reject your friendship, then let them go.”
She also delved into the subject of her divorce from Marc Daly. “The season was about me just coming into my own, reclaiming who I was before the divorce,” said the star. “It’s just fun, lighthearted, reclaiming my power. I think that I lost a lot of that during my divorce and my marriage. I feel like I had to just take inventory of myself and figure out where did I go wrong. Now that I’ve figured it out, it’s just back to being me.”
Kenya added, “I think where I went wrong in my marriage is that I lost my voice, is that I thought that I had to be a different kind of person to make a marriage work … Someone that says ‘yes’ and doesn’t speak up and just goes along to get along. And that is completely false.”
The star was “afraid” her marriage would fail. “I wanted it to work so badly,” she said. “I waited 46 years to get married, and so I thought I found my prince. I thought I found everything and I didn’t want to be divorced because of me.”
Despite her efforts, Kenya eventually realized that “being a strong person is exactly what my daughter needs … Not someone to swallow herself or become lost in a marriage for the sake of being married.”
Although the pageant titleholder is happier this season, her divorce isn’t finalized: “I’m still waiting, still don’t have that stamp … He refuses to talk to me about a settlement … Child care and support and visitation, all of that’s been settled already. So the only thing left is [money].”
She added, “We still don’t know what he wants because he hasn’t said … Because they’re waiting for my financial documents, so why are you waiting on my financial documents? Because if you wanted to change child support or something, you can just say that … But that’s not what they’re asking for, and I just think that when two people are civilized and they know that the relationship is over, you came into this marriage, two successful people, on your own. You don’t need anything from one another and I think that you should just be able to say, ‘Leave with what you came in with.'”
However, Kenya wants to focus on the positive. One thing she learned from the divorce was to “not ta