Riley Burruss is no longer the little girl we met on Real Housewives of Atlanta all those years ago. She’s a full-fledged adult as Kandi’s firstborn recently turned 21 and decided to celebrate in grand fashion in the Caribbean.
Kandi accompanied her daughter to the archipelago nation, along with husband Todd Tucker, his daughter Kaela, and a few of Riley’s friends for the birthday fun. There has been some pool fun, (Riley accidentally slipped on a slanted part of the pool when she thought she was jumping into the deep), a mega slide that ends in the ocean, flowers and a round of applause from staff at their accommodations as they arrived at the Wymara Resort + Villas, a mega foam party, and a mother-daughter shots experience that Kandi was not here for.
“I promised @rileyburruss I would take shots with her for 21,” the star wrote. ‘I don’t know how y’all do it! Shots do not taste good.”
Separate from the getaway, Riley also did a photo shoot to mark turning 21, posing in a tiny denim short set, giving the camera grown woman gaze with a side of glam.
As mentioned, she’s grown up before our eyes on Bravo, and as part of doing so, she has dealt with Internet trolls.
“I despise it. It bothers me so much,” Kandi previously told PEOPLE of her daughter dealing with negative people and bullies online. “Everybody already knows that Riley dealt with her weight issues growing up in the public eye. People would make comments on her body and say things about her personal look and it really boils my blood.”
She added, “You can deal with anything for yourself, but you don’t want your kids to be bullied online. It’s just really terrible.”
Riley has thrived despite all of that. She’s also managed to slim down thanks to hard work and discipline. She previously dropped major weight when she was a teenager and shared her journey on social media, but as a college student, she’s been more private about it, focused on her goals and happiness.
“Honestly, I will say after the first time you lose weight, you try not to look at the numbers because it’s more about a mental thing, so I tried not to do the number thing,” she said last fall at BravoCon. “I feel like when you’re bigger, you don’t realize what size you are until after, so I don’t even really remember. It’s been a minute, so I’ve had to keep getting new clothes.”
“Everyone saw my process when I was younger, like 16. I feel like it’s a lot more shocking for people because I haven’t been in the spotlight recently. So I’m not saying no one’s been paying attention to me, but no one’s been checking. But I’ve just been working, trying to figure things out,” Riley added. “I’ve done it before, so it was more about getting my own goal.”
Riley has gone into the big 2-1 doing great things. We look forward to what’s next for the newly minted adult.