I must say all four of these ladies look absolutely stunning on Vibe’s latest cover, especially Evelyn Lozada with her million dollar “Basketball Wife” body and Chrissy Lampkin who looks like she’s shed some pounds in all the right areas. Recently, the ladies sat down with Vibe reporter, Bonsu Thompson to chop it up about their reality television experiences, their opinions on how they are publicly viewed, and whether or not they feel as if they are role models. Now you know one of the first questions asked pertained to Star Jones recent petition against Evelyn Lozada and violence on reality T.V. Needless to say, this seemed to hit a sore spot with all of the girls. Evelyn started in immediately:
“I think she’s {Star Jones} going to have to get a whole lot of names. Actually, I like the petition and I like the controversy because I’ve learned controversy is good. But I think she’s irrelevant. And she’s using our coattails to get relevant again. Nobody gives a fuck about her.”
Harsh right?? Indeed! Following the interview, Evelyn actually apologized to Star and tweeted:
Read more on the interview after the jump….
Although she did apologize and even brown-nosed a little bit, Evelyn’s outburst during the interview was reflective of the image that all four of these ladies were hoping to deflect by doing the interview with Vibe. Despite Kandi, Tamar, Evelyn, and Chrissy agreeing to being honest and real while filming, they also admit that the anger and emotion on their shows are overly hyped up by money-hungry producers. If you let these four tell it, they are truly NOT the rageful and vindictive little monsters that editing makes them out to be.
Kandi Burruss of Real Housewives of Atlanta fame elaborated on the topic:
“If [the producers] know this person and that person don’t get along, they’ll be like, “Okay, we want you guys to go to lunch.” They know if they have a conversation about what’s going on, something’s gonna jump off. But nobody can make you physically punch somebody in the face. We end up doing that to ourselves from people being real disrespectful in the way they’re speaking to each other, pointing fingers all in people’s faces. Some people just can’t take that.”
Piggy-backing off of Kandi, Chrissy (Love and Hip Hop: New York) continued:
“It’s like, why did I let them {the producers} get me that angry? It’s compromising to your soul because I didn’t sign up for this, but I’ll be damned if I’m gonna allow somebody to make a fool of me because the cameras are rolling.”
Also when asked why she is so “popolicious” and argumentative on her show, Braxton Family Values, Tamar Braxton commented:
“I’m not like that with my girlfriends, though. If we’re all out, I’m more outgoing, more fun. I’m not poppin’ off. I’m just not gonna mess up my face [laughs]. But on the series [spin-off] with [my husband] Vince, you’ll see me in a friendship setting. I’m just as passionate. I’m not just gonna fight. I’m not gonna be a donkey. I’m definitely gonna give you my opinion because I feel like that’s why you love me.”
During the interview, the ladies were also asked if they felt like they were women to be looked up to. The cover of the mag even went so far as to label them as our “new role models.” (Uber-long blank stare.) Really? Seriously? Luckily, the ladies seemed to disagree with this portrayal.
Evelyn commented:
“As a parent, I didn’t raise my daughter to look up to somebody on TV as a role model. I want her to look up to her mother, her family as role models. Also, I have nieces who watch the show and love it. So I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place because I’m being me but now I’m coming to the realization that I can’t do… I wouldn’t want my nine-year-old watching this, but their parents do. So I said to myself recently, “Young girls are watching the show. I really need to check myself.” Before reality TV was what it was, I had full control over my daughter’s television because you never know what they’re showing. Every parent isn’t like that. It’s not for me to judge but we’re talking a lot about sex; sometimes there are sexy scenes. I think it’s a little inappropriate, but regardless, I don’t think children should be looking up to reality TV stars as role models.”
Hmph!! In my opinion, that may be the smartest thing the future Mrs. Ochocinco has said to date, and although the interview was somewhat of a good read, I would be lying if I said my views on these ladies has been turned around. Kandi seemed to keep up her usual air of class and conflict resolution, but Chrissy, Tamar, and of course, Evelyn gave us nothing short of what we usually expect from them….controversy and out-of-pocket remarks. There were some positive things said, but I opened the article hoping to read a lot more apologies and self-realizations. To me, it seemed like the ladies were doing more defending of their actions than anything else. Despite this, I do understand that what we see of these women is but a small portion of who they really are, and I am hoping that in further seasons we will see less of the “pop” and more of what has made them such great daughters, wives, sisters, and mothers.
Congrats to the ladies on the cover, and to check out the full interview along with comments from the show’s producers, visit http://www.vibe.com/article/vibes-2012-sexy-issue-cover-story-pg3.
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