Kandi Burruss is voicing her support for longtime friend and former The Real Housewives of Atlanta co-star, Kenya Moore. The haircare brand owner recently announced her exit from the reality series after 11 seasons with the show following her suspension by Bravo earlier this month. Moore was sidelined at the time for alleged drama involving RHOA newcomer Brittany Eady.
“I wasn’t there, I can’t give you no details on what happened, but it makes me sad,” Burruss, 47, says in a clip taken from her On The Road: Tour Edition Amazon storefront live broadcast and shared to X (formerly Twitter). “I’m not lying about how I feel because she is my friend, I do love her. I do not know the other young lady, so it’s not a diss to her.”
The beloved former RHOA cast member, who confirmed her exit from the series to ET in February, continues, “Kenya, I know she goes hard sometimes and I get it. But I have never known her to make up anything about anybody, and if things are out there about you, when you join a reality show, people are able to pull up things that you’ve done and share them. And not to say that it’s always a nice thing to do or that it’s a cool thing to do, but it happens. And I just hate that because of the situation, they decided to part ways or whatever.”
“And I just felt like, well dang there was nothing else we can do? I just feel like Kenya is a major part of the show and I feel like it’s the end of an era,” she adds. “I think she was one of those people who made sure that people spoke about what they had to speak about. And so, now that she’s gone, I just want to see how that’s gonna work.”
On Tuesday, ET confirmed that Moore, 53, would not be returning for season 16 after she was suspended indefinitely from filming.
A source told ET at the time, “Kenya was suspended for allegedly depicting Brittany performing a sexual act at the grand opening of her Kenya Moore Hair Spa in Atlanta, from images allegedly found online. The network is still reviewing the content Kenya displayed during filming.”
Following the alleged event, Moore took to social media to defend herself, posting, “I would never engage in revenge porn, I have never distributed private images or footage of anyone, nor solicited images owned by others to use to threaten or blackmail.” She maintained her innocence, adding, “I have always been vindicated.”
In response to her suspension, a source told ET that Moore decided to part ways with the franchise, despite previously expressing interest in returning, declaring that she would not be “going anywhere” and receiving support from her longtime castmates and friends.
A separate source told ET that, at this time, it’s not known how Moore’s exit will be handled on the show, if at all.
“It’s still early into filming and they could just edit her out, like Lizzy Savetsky on New York,” the source said.
Savetsky was a cast member on the rebooted version of The Real Housewives of New York City, but left the show early on in filming. When the show premiered, she was completely left out of the edit.
On Wednesday, Moore took to Instagram and posted a photo of her 5-year-old daughter, Brooklyn, enjoying a little R&R on the beach. In her caption, Moore shed some light into how she’s doing and what she’s thinking after parting ways with the Bravo series. She also offered a rebuttal to the claims behind her exit.
“Thank you for all the support #teamtwirl. My heart is full and my conscience is clean,” she wrote in her caption. “So many false claims hiding behind anonymous sources. All this conversation and no facts being reported. If a claim or source was valid, would they need to hide?”
She added, “My life is blessed. Myself and my daughter will continue to thrive in a non toxic environment where we feel appreciated and most importantly, protected. Thank you God for covering us. 🙏🏾.”
News that Moore’s leaving the storied franchise comes just days after she settled her divorce from New York City-based restauranteur Marc Daly. As part of the divorce settlement, Moore had been granted “final decision-making authority” when it comes to Brooklyn being included on a television show or other economic opportunities.
That had been a point of contention dating back to last year, when Moore claimed on the Reality With the King podcast that Daly was trying to prevent Brooklyn from appearing on her Bravo reality series.
Moore and Daly tied the knot in an intimate ceremony in St. Lucia in 2017. They welcomed Brooklyn in November 2018, and split less than a year later, in September 2019. The salon owner filed for divorce in May 2021 after four years of marriage to the New York City-based restauranteur.