Real Housewives of Atlanta alum Kandi Burruss has confirmed that her divorce from Todd Tucker didn’t come out of nowhere, telling viewers on a November 24 Amazon Live that she filed on Friday after 11 years of marriage and that the split had been “brewing for a while.”
According to TMZ, the former singer explained that she went ahead and filed divorce papers last week, but the two had been “hurtling towards a divorce for a while,” with sources describing their separation as amicable and insisting there is “legitimately no drama” around the breakup.
E! News and People shared her statement about making the decision after “deep thought and a lot of prayer,” with her focus now on protecting her peace and co-parenting with love and respect.
From reality romance to real-life split
Back in 2011, Burruss met Tucker behind the scenes while filming The Real Housewives of Atlanta, got engaged in early 2013, and married him in 2014, building a blended family that includes their children Ace and Blaze along with her older daughter Riley and his daughter Kaela.
People and other outlets note that the couple has now reached the end of an 11-year marriage after more than a decade together on and off camera.
On the Amazon Live stream, Burruss looked straight into the camera and said, “All the times you’ve been seeing me online all smiles means nothing, I’ve been going through it,” adding that life has been “life-ing” her lately as she rides out the highs and lows of this breakup.
Reports from People and ThatGrapeJuice both picked up that raw admission and highlighted how different it sounds from the polished posts fans are used to seeing.
Fans also heard her admit that she is “up and down,” with some days where she can keep moving and stay busy with friends, and other moments when the sadness hits hard and she feels “all over the place,” a description that echoed through coverage from The News International as they tried to capture just how turbulent this stretch has been for her.
A family still at the same table
In most stories where divorce is the part of the headline, it’s unusual to find that both parents are still getting together for big events. TMZ reported that Kandi and Todd showed up together at their daughter Blaze’s sixth birthday party the day after she filed for divorce, and People added that they still plan to sit down as a family for Thanksgiving, even as the divorce process unfolds in the background.
For those of us who remember celebrity couples working things out away from nonstop cameras, this combination of togetherness despite the separation feels complicated, but admirable.