So America’s sweetheart Jennifer Aniston is finally engaged. I must admit, I too breathed a sigh of relief when I heard Brad Pitt’s ex-wife finally found love with her boo thang Justin Theroux. Somehow, that image of homewrecker Angelina Jolie #winning with Mr. Pitt didn’t sit too well with the public and America was definitely waiting for the 43-year-old to put her whole divorce past to rest.

We’re certainly happy for Ms. Aniston but we’re not thinking about her wedding day – we’re too busy waiting for our very own celeb sistahs to find love with Mr. Right. These ladies  have gone through their fair share of heart ache and singlehood. It’s time for them to find Mr. Right and grace us with a magazine spread of their wedding so we can all delight in their joys.

D. Salters/WENN.com

Man, what can we say about Jill Scott’s romantic life? We never ever thought that she’d divorce Lyzel after we heard about him all up and down her stunning debut “Who Is Jill Scott?” But it goes to show you that you never know what goes on behind closed doors. After her break up with Lyzel, Scott had a romance with her drummer Jon Roberts. They were engaged, had a baby boy, and broke up. Judging by her numerous interviews, the relationship definitely took a toll on Scott. Considering we know how much of a passionate person she is, we want her to find love again and make “falling in love” music again soon.

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From The Grio

NeNe Leakes has been able to successfully parlay her notoriety as a reality star into a serious acting career.  The Real Housewives of Atlanta cast member currently appears in NBC’s breakout scripted comedy The New Normal.

The show is about a blended family of a gay couple and woman who serves as their surrogate as they attempt to have a child. NeNe stars as Rocky, the assistant to one of the gay men. The New Normal is headed up by Ryan Murphy, who also is the creator and executive producer of Glee, where NeNe made her debut as a TV actress just earlier this year.

Read more at The Grio

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Source: uvtblog.com

So I finally got around to watching the pilot episode of “Hollywood Exes” and let me say, zzzzzzzzzz.

Bore-ring! This show lacks all the waywardness and flat out ratchet-ness we have come to associate from a reality show on VH1. There are no fistfights. There are no petty fights and name calling (thus far). No former strippers turned bougie housewives. And more importantly, the show has yet to exhibit the negative stereotypes of us that many black women have cried foul of as of late. That might be a good thing. For the most part, Nicole Murphy and the crew are pretty tame and chill. Yet, strangely I don’t care about any of these women – well, not enough to watch their boring lives play out for an hour on television.

Anyway, I’m like five minutes into the show and Kells’ (R. Kelly) ex-wife is in her bedroom, talking about her big move to LA. She’s meandering about with her personal assistant – a bald headed gay black man. As they fold clothes and pack stuff in suitcases, the man listens to how Andrea wants to start over and get an image away from Kells and how excited she is about…zzzzzzz.  Now there is nothing out of the ordinary about two people sharing a heart to heart with one another, even if it is with a “personal assistant.” But I’m sitting here, watching their interaction, thinking to myself: Why does everyone have a gay black man BFF? And why are all of their gay black BFFs in service to them in some way?

I mean, am I the only one who has noticed that most of these women-led reality TV shows features the quintessential gay manservants?  These men do everything: furnish apartments, do hair and makeup, personal shop for clothing, carry purses and luggage and act as a shoulder to cry on.  In most of these situations, we know nothing about the gay black man other than that he is sharp-tongued, stereotypically effeminate, and basically says “Gurl” and “Chile” a lot. Oh, and he is a loyal worker to his woman. Evelyn Lozada had one to help run her TV shoe “store.”  Tyra Banks had an army battalion of gay men to help her weed through her search for the next top model. And on the “Housewives” series (pick one, any one), there are like 2.5 gay sidekicks to every female character, doing makeup, training them at the gym and tossing their wigs for them. It’s like the gay sidekick has become hot new accessory on reality TV – like the new pocket dog or a Louis Vuitton knockoff.

Source: Realitytea.com

For sex to be such a “taboo” topic in the black community as RHOA’s Kandi Burruss says, she sure had no problem discussing it with Bethenny Frankel on the reality television star’s talk show Bethenny.

Kandi came on the show to talk about her line of sex toys and why black men don’t like vibrators, and according to NecoleBitchie.com

“When Bethenny asked Kandi how she became a voice for black women who wanted to be more liberated when it comes to sex, she responded:

Well the crazy thing is I didn’t try to make it a race issue. I think because I’m black, obviously, I had a lot of people come up to me and say “Did you realize you’re the face of black women being more liberated and talking about sex,” and I didn’t realize that until now. In our community, that black community, it is very hush hush to talk about sex. Everything is hush hush, like you can’t talk about that.

Bethenny also asked Kandi about the stereotype of black men not liking toys in the bedroom and Kandi responded:

Black men a lot of times are not down with that at all because it’s this whole thing of ‘Black men are supposed to be swinging,’ which a lot of them are not! But they feel like ‘You don’t need that, I’m handling things around here.’ A lot of times men are pretty much guaranteed to get the “AHHHHH” moment. We don’t always get the “AHHHHH” moment every single time. So if we don’t get that every single time, why can’t we get a little bit of extra…?”

Sex doesn’t seem to be as much “taboo” a topic as it is just intimate. There are some things you don’t have to talk about on national television. Keeping certain topics to yourself doesn’t make those things negative, it just makes them private. I don’t understand how she figures black people don’t talk about sex anyway. What alternate universe does Kandi live in? From my view, it seems that is all black music, movies, magazines, reality shows and Black Twitter talk about lately. If anything, in our current culture of overshare, privacy itself is taboo.

What do you think? Is Kandi right about sex being “hush hush” in the black community?

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Well, now we know that NeNe Leakes wasn’t bluffing when she was talking about being a rich itchbay. Okay, well, maybe she was over doing it when she was telling Sheree that she had Donald Trump type of money, but relatively speaking, she can comfortably state that she is the highest-paid Housewife on Bravo’s franchise series.

According to RadarOnline, NeNe rakes in $750,000 per season, and is said to be making $1 million this upcoming season. So we definitely know why Ms. NeNe isn’t leaving the show although she’s “so tired” of all the drama.

Whose the next highest paid Real Housewife? Apparently, it’s Vicki Gunvalson of Orange County – we don’t really understand why but I guess being the longest-standing Housewife has its perks.

What do you think of NeNe’s hefty payday?

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Ahhh, reality television. What did we do without it? I personally can’t imagine my life without the ratchetness of Love & Hip Hop, The Housewives of Every City, Basketball Wives, The Braxtons and… well, you get the gist. Although reality television offers a very orchestrated look into the lives of “average” folks and celebrities, there are some lessons to be learned from the trials and tribulations of cast members. Here’s what I learned personally:

by Cortney Cleveland

“Real Housewives of Atlanta” star Kandi Burruss continues to expand her empire, one well-chosen product at a time. Fans of the Bravo series are already familiar with Kandi’s new adult toy collection, Bedroom Kandi but the starlet recently announced she was adding digital technology to the mix with Kandi Koated Spades, billed as the first “urban” Spades app for iPhone/iPad users.

Critics of the reality star may find her ventures to be slightly eccentric. However, Kandi is showing a refined sense of business savvy. An adult toy line and a Spades app may seem like random products to build an empire with, but both product lines cater to a niche market and are in line with her personal brand.

By definition, a niche market is a narrowly defined group of potential customers. A business that focuses on a niche market is concerned with addressing the needs of this group with a product or service that is not being supplied by mainstream providers. Most people think that a bigger market automatically equals more profits. But, a niche market makes it easier to give customers what they want because they are easier to find and their needs are more narrowly defined.

On her show, Kandi has often spoken of wanting to introduce African-American women to adult toys with her line. Targeting an underserved group not only allows her to face less competition, but also gives her the opportunity to educate her target audience and establish herself as an authority in her industry. This authority status will draw more customers to her brand.

The case is similar with her new app. There are plenty of card game apps available, but few specifically cater to an urban audience. Kandi and her team noticed a void in the market and filled it with a product tailored to their target audience. Kandi Koated Spades was designed to reflect the fast-paced, “trash-talking” style of Spades popular in the African-American community with features such as “Reneg,” “Deuces Wild,” and “Jokers.”

The Real Housewives franchise from Bravo TV has certainly helped launch the entrepreneurial careers of more than half of its starlets.

So whose the next member to launch? Kandi Burress, the singer/songwriter/single mother featured on The Real Housewives of Atlanta. Viewers got to see a sensual side of Burress as she hosted her online web series, Kandi Koated Nights, as shown on the reality show. Now, the songstress is taking it to the next level with the launch of a sex toy line. Bravo cameras were on hand yesterday to film the launch party in New York city, where she introduced her new venture.

No doubt, sales of Burress’ business will be generously helped by Bravo’s support, as it has done with so many others. Bettheny Frankel is by far the most successful entrepreneur in Housewives history, having sold her Skinny Girl Margarita for an estimated $100 million. Fellow Atlanta housewife Kim Zolciak is copping a wig line.

Shows like “Jeopardy,” and channels like the Discovery Channel and PBS are all good and nice if you’re talking about trying to expand your mind on a random weekday. But at night, especially after a taxing day at work and a struggle to make dinner, you want to give your brain cells a break, and maybe even turn them into mush with some less than educational television. Here are a few types of shows that have us fighting folks for the remote and taking extended lunch breaks at work to talk about.

Perhaps the “Real Housewives” franchise has soured you on the idea of housewives, but keep in mind there’s only so much reality on reality television. Flip through a history book or turn on the news and you’ll get plenty of examples of true blue housewives who are more than just the maid/cook/nanny to their families.

Check out AOL Black Voices as they explore the topic with special emphasis on women like Coretta Scott King, our girl First Lady Michelle Obama and Winnie Mandela. Good stuff.