Source: VH1 / Viacom
Let me just start by saying, I wish Jonathan Hernandez and whoever else is so hellbent on getting Yandy Smith-Harris and Kimbella James (formerly Vanderhee) back on friendly terms would stop. They don’t want it, and we don’t need it. We also don’t care for it because of this exhausting storyline between them and involving Chrissy Lampkin that has played out for the last 10 episodes.
It reached what I assume to be a climax on last night’s episode after the event Yandy helped throw for Jonathan’s nephew and his hope to bring all of the ladies together who attended said event, a double dutch fundraiser, to say thank you for their support. Kimbella managed to put her issues with Yandy aside for a second at the event, but couldn’t help but bring them to the lingerie meetup afterward.
While there, a messy game of Truth or Dare was played and folks were asked if they had issues with anyone in the room by Somaya Reece. It was the group’s unnecessary way of trying to spark a conversation between Kim and Yandy, which didn’t need to happen in front of them — but whatever. While Yandy stayed quiet, Kimbella rehashed out her issues, this time mentioning that Yandy had no right to talk crazy about the fight she was in with Chrissy since she didn’t really do much to help her when things got ugly. A clip was played to remind us of the fight, and the conversation Yandy had with Johnathan where she talked about Kimbella getting “her face stomped in” and more by Chrissy. That conversation occurred after the drama over what was said about Chrissy and Jim Jones’s house drama.
Kimbella pointed out afterward that she was upset because Yandy didn’t really do enough in comparison to the expectations Yandy would have for her to jump in and help out when going through drama with other people (i.e., Mendeecees’s baby mothers). In the end, she said she felt as though Yandy talked about the fight like she deserved it, to which Yandy said Kimbella did deserve the vicious way she talked about it after calling “me a fake b—h for no reason.” From there, Kimbella threw a drink at Yandy at the party, and then antagonized Yandy to do something. She decided to, throwing a drink back at Kimbella and hopping on a table to (maybe) get to her former friend.
After watching the whole thing back again, I will admit I could somewhat understand Kimbella’s ire. Did she have a point? Sure! Perhaps Yandy could have thrown herself in the fight with Chrissy in a different way to help her friend, hence the hurt over Yandy’s comments about that embarrassing ordeal. Maybe Yandy did call Kimbella to help her do her dirty work in some situations. All of this is conceivable. It’s just kind of weird for them to be talking about it in the present day.
All of Kimbella’s issues with Yandy are based off of situations that occurred in the past. She’s mad about how Yandy handled the fight with Chrissy, yet she has since become close with her aggressor. She also, in the time since that fight occurred in 2011, went on to become like a sister to Yandy. They raised kids together, they dealt with drama together, they handled the legal trouble of their partners together, only for all of those years, Kim to be holding onto some animosity. She held it while simultaneously jumping in for Yandy in her drama, even inserting herself when she wasn’t asked to against Mendeecees’s baby mothers at a reunion a few years back. When she felt that Yandy wasn’t forthcoming about how she found herself involved in all that (she claims it’s because Yandy called on her to help), that’s when their relationship first stumbled. Nevertheless, the ladies hashed things out and Kimbella even asked Yandy to be in her wedding. However, she was holding animosity again about Yandy being “fake” and not a good friend when it came to that situation.
Over and over again, it’s like Kimbella signs up to move forward with Yandy, only to take steps back and hold on to grudges about the past that she can use as proof to say her former friend is a “fake b—h” when she’s not happy about something. And while pain from the past shouldn’t be ignored, there needs to be a limit to how long you carry it without actively trying to resolve it in a healthy manner. Because how do you move forward with a person who will never cease to bring up old sh-t? If you don’t want to talk and resolve things soon after they happen, it’s not fair to try and play victim so many years later.
She was mad that Yandy didn’t jump in more to protect her from Chrissy, but she continued to benefit from what that relationship brought her: more screen time on the show and money for it. She chose to fight her friend’s battles and overextend herself, but did so in order to say that she was a better or more serious friend than Yandy. It’s like everything she pretended to move on from or do was eventually thrown back in Yandy’s face, including this season. That actually comes off just as fake as she accuses her old friend of being.
At this point, Kimbella is dragging this whole situation in order to have a storyline on this show, and it’s sad because she and Yandy did really seem to be good friends. But at some point she has to stop with the petty moves and really, whether on camera or off, sit and talk with Yandy about what’s real and how they can move forward in the present or let the dead horse she keeps beating rest and distance herself. All of this constant back and forth about what happened nearly nine years ago or four years ago, is ridiculous. All of this living in and focusing on the past, isn’t going to get sis anywhere — but at home looking for a way back on the show next season.
See a variety of reactions to episode 10’s drama by hitting the flip:
