Source: WENN
We’re living in a day and age where marrying, dating or even sleeping with a celebrity (and I use that term very loosely) almost guarantees a spot on a reality show. There’s Basketball Wives, Football Wives, Baseball Wives, Married to Medicine, Love & Hip Hop and of course, Hollywood Exes. Ex-wife of legendary R&B crooner R.Kelly and Hollywood Exes star, Andrea Kelly, however, wants the world to know that there’s a huge difference between her show and other VH1 programs like Basketball Wives. The businesswoman and mommy of three recently opened up to Mara The Hip Hop Socialite and Fusion Magazine about exactly what that difference is, her newest cast member Shamicka Lawrence and hew new book, Under the Red Carpet: My Life as R.Kelly’s Wife. Take a peek at some of the highlights from their chat below.
On Hollywood Exes vs. Basketball Wives and Love & Hip Hop:
“Not to take anything from anyone else on VH1, because again, they’re a part of my television family, but you’re talking about a different group of women. So you’re not talking about somebody who has never been exposed to the life of celebrity, who’s never been exposed to a Maybach or a Lamborghini, never been exposed to red bottoms, so you’re going to act a little differently when you’re accustomed to a certain lifestyle. So for us, we are representing a legacy. We’re not talking about women who were married to men that nobody knew. We’re talking about the king of R&B, we’re talking about Prince, we’re talking about the king of comedy, we’re talking about Eddie Murphy here. So you really can’t even compare the two, so to say we would act a certain way because our counterparts do, you would have to step back from that and go but you know what? Just like music has different genres, VH1 and these reality series have a different genre. I would like to say that we’re coming from a level of royalty because we have been with men that were such big icons. But again, our show is not about those men, what they did, and why they divorced us, it’s about why they married us in the first place, because we are classy, because we are educated, so that’s what we show.”
On Martin Lawrence’s ex-wife, Shamicka Lawrence joining the cast:
“I think when you come into a sisterhood like this, you have to know that it’s not a situation where ‘oh, let’s just find somebody.’ She was friends with Nicole and friends with Sheree, so it’s like her coming on the show, it wasn’t like ‘oh, who do we put in this place. She naturally fit in because everybody knew her. I naturally fell in love with her, because her middle name is Sha’ron honey. So Ms. Shamicka is like this sweet kindergarten teacher, but baby, let Shamicka Sha’ron come on the scene. I’m like, ‘okay, you got a little south side girl in you.’ So she’s really, really good people, so of course she had no problem coming into the sisterhood.”“Oh yes ma’am, I told you she will give you Shamicka Sha’ron in a minute honey! Yes she will. Don’t play with her; do not let the pretty hair fool you. She will get you right together. That’s what I love about her. She’s not about conflict, but at the same time, pretty don’t mean punk. You not going to punk me and disrespect me, and that’s what I love about her. But at the same time, she knows how to come where she’s not being disrespectful either. And that’s how I am with the rest of my girls, and that’s how my girls are with me, so she was like a perfect fit.”On why her new book, Under the Red Carpet: My Life As R.Kelly’s Wife is not a tell-all:“That’s the misconception, that the book is about him. Honey, that book is about Drea baby. It’s about me and my journey. People read the title and think ‘oh okay, ‘Under the [Red] Carpet: My Life As R. Kelly’s Wife’. It’s really a self help book; it’s about allowing women to know don’t a) go into a relationship broken, don’t think that you’re ever going to find a man to fix you. Women have to realize that in life, there’s a price and a cost for everything. We know what the price is for a Louis bag, we know what the price is for red bottoms, but are you willing to pay the cost? Are you willing to give up your dreams? Are you willing to be in the shadow? Are you willing to be alienated from the world just so you can say you have Gucci bags and red bottoms? So my book is really teaching women about going after your goals, establishing your own, who you are in the universe. Don’t think that ‘oh if I get with a R. Kelly, if I get with an Eddie Murphy, I have made it.’ Make it before you meet them. So then if you do divorce, if you do walk away, you walk away with a whole self sense of oh, I know I am, I had my businesses before I met him, I’ve been traveling, I’ve seen the world before I met him, so this is nothing new. So if it disappears, I’m not now devastated by it, because I’ve already been exposed to it.”On the difference between bashing he ex-husband and telling her story:“You know what, I’m not afraid to open up about it, because I don’t think that it’s ‘oh, she’s bashing her ex on TV, she’s bashing R. Kelly,’ ’cause that’s never going to happen because again, we’re still family. ‘Cause we’re divorced, does not mean we’re not family. We have children together, so we will be bound to each other for the rest of our lives, but it’s also real. What I’m going through, a lot of women go through. Even if it’s I worked while my husband went to school because he wanted to become a dentist, and then when he finally became a dentist, I’m thinking I want to start my business, but he’s on some ol’, ‘the kids are small; why can’t you do it when the kids get out of school?’ Women, we find ourselves in those situations a lot when we give so much of ourselves for our partners, our children. But then when it comes to us, when we put ourselves first, suddenly, we’re made to feel like the bad guy. Like we’re doing something that’s totally selfish when it’s not. At some point, we have to be supported; we can’t always be the air in everybody else’s balloon. So I felt that that’s something I need to share. Not bashing, but to let other women know, just like you go through it, I go through it too. And so does Mrs. Jones across the street. Many of us as women have put ourselves on the back burner, and then when we feel like, it’s time for me now, you don’t feel that full support. That’s a very disheartening thing to go through, but I think being that mouthpiece for women, will show them that even Drea Kelly goes through that. But you know what, I’m not going to stop; my dream will not die whether you support me or not. I’m going to keep going. And I think that’s something that had to be shared.”Although the messy girl inside of me would love to perceive Andrea’s comments about Basketball Wives and Love & Hip Hop as shade, she was really just speaking the truth and sometimes the truth hurts.Follow Jazmine on Twitter @jazminedenise.
You need to be a member of NASTYMIXX to add comments!
Join NASTYMIXX