On Sunday, May 7, the 15th season of Real Housewives of Atlanta is set to premiere. The ability to have such longevity with a reality show is not something that’s lost on one of its biggest stars, Kenya Moore.
“It’s amazing,” she tells ESSENCE. “What a strong presence. Especially with having one of the few shows on air featuring an all Black cast or predominantly Black cast in reality TV. It’s just really cool to see us here, after all this time.”
The series has seen its share of changes, drama and scandals, but since joining in Season 5 (she skipped Season 11 while pregnant), Moore has been one of the most recognizable and popular faces of the franchise. She’s been known for her quick comebacks and reads as well as for being “Gone with the wind fabulous” and bumping heads with some of the show’s OGs, coming out unscathed.
But all these seasons later, present-day Kenya Moore says she’s not the woman she used to be. “I think I’ve certainly grown. Especially the way I view the world and especially now that I have my daughter, my goals, my life dreams, they all include her. That has been a big change,” she says. “But I think the growth is there. I think I’m much more mature. Hell, I better be.”
Still, a more mature Moore does not make her a doormat. She is still the owner of one of the sharpest tongues on any Real Housewives series. “I feel like I come always in peace,” she says, “but I’m ready.” So, expect her to hold her own, as usual, even while hoping for some harmony with her cast mates in Season 15. And of course, you can look forward to plenty of excitement. We talked candidly with the star about all that and more.
“The season will keep you on the edge of your seat. It is so unlike any other season,” says Moore. “I’m telling you, from the editing, to the visuals, even the photo shoot, it’s giving. We’re not coming to play with y’all! We’re coming back for our number one spot.”
ESSENCE: I checked out the trailer for the new season, which premieres on Sunday. You have some moments with a few people where you’re bumping heads. I wanted to ask you, how do you get in the mindset to film knowing that sometimes this is a part of it? Because I would imagine that if I had to prepare to deal with people I’ve clashed with, that it would fill me with a lot of anxiety. But when I talked to Shereé she was like, “I don’t stress because I know what we’re doing. This is our job.”
Kenya Moore: It doesn’t matter if it’s your job. You have people that come at you for the sake of being relevant on the show and just for the sake of trying to start fights. Those people at the end of the day are never really successful on the show because it’s not organic. I’m always sitting on ready like, “Oh really?” I don’t know what’s going to happen but I know the group that I work with and the type of people some of them are, and I know that they just come out talking crazy or saying stuff or making up stuff and you just have to constantly be in a defensive mode. It does give you some anxiety.
I’m sure. We also see in the trailer that you’re dating. I have to ask, what are the attributes that it takes for a man to impress Kenya Moore?
Oh, honestly you might think that list is extravagant or impossible, but it really isn’t. I just feel like you have to be a kind person. A person who is funny, easygoing.
I don’t like show boaters. I don’t like people who just are trying to get other people’s attention. Someone who is just down to earth, regular, but just has a lot of different layers, you know? I don’t think it takes a lot. I just think it takes the right things to happen.
I see the gentleman that you’re talking with on the show happens to be a white man. Have you always been open to dating outside of your race or is this a first?
Yeah. I’m an equal opportunity dater. Color is not… I look at who the person is, so that’s never been an issue for me.
There are people that I’ve dated that will never appear on the show, so you can’t know my entire history of dating. But yeah, it’s never been an issue for me. I just think personality, how you fit together, things like that matter. The things you have in common are more important to me, that you’re a good person.
Are you ever nervous about bringing them into this fold of reality TV, even just showing them knowing how it can be?
A hundred percent. It makes or breaks relationships sometimes. Sometimes you can just be with someone and it’s just so outside of what their comfort level is. People are saying things about them that are not true. People are looking for dirt on them. People come out of the woodwork saying all kinds of crazy things. That happened to me very early on when I was first on this show. There were a lot of strange rumors, people bringing up things. But for me it’s like, “Okay, it’s not true so what else do you want me to do about that?” But for someone who is successful, who is a great catch, you bring them on a show like this and they’re like, “I don’t have to deal with people lying about me. I don’t have to deal with attacks.” Then Bravo fans are very, very invested. With them being so invested, they come at them. They start DMing them. They just go a little bit overboard. It’s not for everyone. It’s not for everyone. I think, yeah, it makes me nervous because it’s just not for everyone. You have to have a certain thick skin and just know what’s ahead versus being blindsided.
As you date, what is a red flag that you have learned from the past that you decided you’re not even going to give the time of day now?
If you see a flicker of someone’s personality, like a representative, and then you see something completely different than that. Basically, if someone shows you who they are, believe them. They will show you. Especially within the first 30 days, if you’re consistently speaking to someone or seeing someone, they will show you who they are. It might be a second of it, but you’ll see it. For me, it’s just like, “Yep, that is a type of behavior, response or feeling that I don’t wish to have in my life.” Then you have to just know that.
Where do things stand with, if you don’t mind me asking, with your divorce proceedings? And does that impact co-parenting in any way?
No, it doesn’t impact co-parenting, as far as I know. But we had a mediation last week, it didn’t end in a divorce, so we have to continue going. If we can’t figure it out before our trial, then we’ll have to go to trial after all this time. It’s something that I really don’t want. I just want it to be over with. I just want it to be over with so that it’s just something that we don’t have to keep re-living.
Are you guys able to be kind to one another and speak directly?
Yeah, we speak directly now. Before we didn’t. It’s pleasant communication for the most part. It’s getting better.
That’s good, that’s good. Things with someone else though, Marlo Hampton, are tense in the trailer. When is it possible to move forward with your co-stars despite moments when you guys have these bumps in the road and when is it like, “Oh no, you’re not somebody I can deal with”? Because you’ve had some situations in the past with women that were even uglier and you guys were able to at one time-
I disagree with the characterization of it being uglier. I don’t feel that way. I think there are lines that you don’t cross. I think that once you cross those lines and you continue to show the same behavior year after year, and no matter what you say, it’s the same behavior, although they’re trying to tell you that it’s different, I think that that means that you are just not capable of moving forward with that person. Because they’re just not for you and it’s okay. You can be the devil somewhere else. But for me, I feel like if the devil showed you who they are 20 times and you think the 21st time is going to be different, it’s not. The problem is, is that it’s you. You are the crazy one for thinking that it’s going to change. I think that people see that in their relationships, in their personal relationships, with their family or friends or their boss or whomever. If the behavior does not change, then there’s just no way to move forward.
In what ways do you feel like you’ve changed since joining this series during Season 5? We’re now in the 15th one.
I was always a hot mess. It’s so funny to me because I think I’m here this many seasons later and where I am on the show and with the fans, I feel like I got here because I was just organically a hot mess. I’m just trying to figure it out. It was just so many things and mistakes, good and bad, that I’ve experienced on the show. But I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world because it is an amazing platform. Bravo has been great and great to me. Also for my businesses, for my family, for my dreams, for my aspirations and all the other things I want to do in my life, the platform is tremendous.
I think that the viewers have seen my growth. I think it’s pretty clear when I started off, I’m still a hot mess, but it’s not as hot of a mess. But I gave you my authentic self through the bad choices with men, through being vulnerable, showing up at my mother’s door and having the door slammed and locked in my face. My issues with fertility, then having a child. Wanting love so much and wanting a family and seeing me evolve through that and experience all the ups and downs. I think that is what has gotten me to this point. That evolution I think is evident from me just being someone who really didn’t listen a lot and I went ahead and did what I thought was the best thing, into someone who is really thoughtful in my process now.
How do you maintain your peace? Doing reality TV can be difficult, as I mentioned in the beginning, just dealing with all these personalities and trying to balance life, trying to balance motherhood, trying to go on these trips, everything.
Honestly, peace for me is just doing all the things that I love. I have such a passion for hair care. I developed a business, Kenya Moore Hair Care, that really takes me out of the head space of emotion to business woman to business mogul. There’s no emotion in business, so it’s polar opposite when I’m at work and when I’m focusing on new products and testing and opening a new hair salon in Atlanta, a whole new business, the Kenya Moore Hair Spot.
For me, my peace comes in that I can compartmentalize and I can put that show and that emotion and the drama of that in its place, and when I’m focusing on being a mogul and a businesswoman, that just brings me so much joy to see that I can do it. This is something I dreamed about. I literally conceptualized Kenya Moore Hair Care on Bravo during the reunion. I said, “I’m going to start my own hair care line.” It’s never been done on the show. I’m in over 3,000 doors now and within the next year scaling to 20,000 doors.
It’s been an incredible journey. But for me, that’s my peace. That, focusing on business and also traveling, seeing the world and taking my daughter along for the ride. Nothing better than that.
Check out the new season of The Real Housewives of Atlanta when it premieres on Sunday, May 7, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo.