Source: Courtesy of / Reality With The King
During her latest interview, Kenya Moore’s relationship with her estranged mother brought the Real Housewives of Atlanta star to tears.
The longtime Housewives face emotionally recalled her mother’s vow to “destroy” and “dog” her during a candid moment of Reality With The King‘s Aug. 16 episode. Kenya shared that while she never felt inherently destined for fame, her early estrangement from her mother was key in shaping her unique path.
The RHOA star said she was 11 or 12 when a plan she and a cousin formulated to get her mother to speak to her went horribly wrong. Kenya said her mother, Patricia Moore, was furious when she innocently tried to get her acknowledgment.
“Like literally, she told me she would destroy me — to my face. My mother said that to me. She said I will dog you for the rest of your life — to my face,” Kenya told podcast host and former RHOA producer Carlos King.
The former Miss USA pageant queen noted that her grandmother tried to defend her during the exchange with her aggravated mother. Kenya explained that her grandmother’s intervention was the first time she saw the elder matriarch confront Patricia about the horrid behavior at Kenya’s expense.
The RHOA star also noted that her mother simultaneously denied her existence and stated that they’d never have a relationship. She said over time, her mother’s hurtful treatment caused her to have a resilient disposition and “thick skin.”
When the timeless beauty won her first pageant at 16, Kenya revealed her mother campaigned to get her crown taken away. The RHOA star, now a mother of one, recalled feeling like she’d been put on “trial.” Kenya said her mother went as far as to accuse her, then a teenager, of being an alcoholic and a “horrible representation” of a beauty queen.
The Housewives star expressed her feeling that Patricia suffers from some form of mental illness.
“That’s why I studied psychology,” Kenya told Carlos of when she was in college. “Because I wanted to find out what was wrong with my mother. It was my only passion in life at the time. I wanted to know what would make a person look their own child in the face and say you are not mine. I never had you.”
While the RHOA star wiped away a few tears during the unpacking of her distressing past with Patricia, Kenya’s vulnerability really seeped through when she emotionally said she felt no one ever “fought” for her as a daughter neglected by their mother.
Kenya’s been open about her wounded mother-daughter relationship since her first season on RHOA. Over the years, the starlet mentioned it to co-stars and even had the estrangement weaponized against her.
The powerful and soul-stirring conversation between Kenya and Carlos began around the 6-minute mark of the video below. The second part of the duo’s chat debuts on YouTube Aug. 22 at 9 a.m. EST.
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