As a newcomer to reality TV, Married To Medicine: Los Angeles star and actress Asha Kamali Blankinship had to learn the ropes fairly quickly. But in this next phase of her life, motherhood is a priority above all, and she’s taking her time.
ESSENCE caught up with Asha and her husband, Dr. Larry Blankinship, just two weeks after welcoming their daughter Kamali. They have yet to share photos or video of their precious little one on social media, but sent us a few photos of her that made us melt. What a beauty!
The couple, who wed in 2016, are adjusting to the reality of being parents after wanting to start a family for quite some time. “It’s a high learning curve,” said Asha as her newborn baby girl rested peacefully by her side. “Basically, she’s the boss. She tells us everything that she likes or doesn’t.”
Reflecting back on their journey to conceive, Asha says her rainbow baby came after many trying days and nights. “I was 39. We found out we were pregnant on Christmas Day 2018 but had a miscarriage in February,” she explains. “That was really devastating for us. At the time, I was reading Michelle Obama’s book Becoming. She talked about her miscarriage, and I thought, ‘wow, so many women have experienced this, but no one really talks about it.'”
Asha and Larry got pregnant again the following April. But the anxiety from losing their first child still lingered in the background. “My spiritual advisor told me to write a letter to [our first child] thanking that soul for coming to me. She said it was their decision not to stay here, and I had to accept it so I could move on. Between that and our therapy sessions, I gained a level of acceptance that the child wasn’t meant to be at that time. It helped me get to a place of joy.”
Joy indeed came their on January 18th, when their daughter Kamali Blankinship was born. As any parent can tell you, having a child shifts your outlook on life. For Larry, this was certainly the case, “I used to joke with Asha and say, ‘I can’t wait til she comes so she can help us understand what really matters in life.’ We get caught up in bickering about this or that you realize that the argument or whatever was inconsequential. When she came it was, I don’t know my purpose redefined.'”
This renewed outlook on life inspired them to reassess where they spent their time. As such, the couple decided they will not be returning for another season of Married To Medicine: Los Angeles. Part of that decision had to do with Asha’s costar Shanique accusing Larry of being in contact with his ex-girlfriend while they were dating. “It was an all-out assault on our marriage,” says Larry.
“The first season wasn’t very pleasant for us to be honest,” Asha chimes in. “There were some things we enjoyed, but it was not a good experience for our marriage. We’re very intentonal about and do a lot of work on [our relationship] and we just felt sideswiped. We know it’s for entertainment and we know people like drama, but we had to think, ‘what serves us at this moment?’ That did not serve us. When things about his past were thrown in that we’ve never dealt with, [we decided] we can’t really participate in the untruths.”
Still, Asha and Larry harbor no resentment towards their castmates…including Shanique. “When people have wronged me. I say, ‘well, they did the best they can with the tools they have.’ I’m sure that she probably would want to do things differently in the future, but we wish them well. Larry and I are at a place where we have released it.”
