Kenya Moore’s dedication to fitness has landed her the cover of Heart & Soul magazine’s February edition. The magazine’s editor, Anita Kopacz Letter says of Moore, “Our cover model, the beautiful…and sometimes controversial, Kenya Moore, is clad in red to honor American Heart Health Month. She shares with us the softer side of Kenya; the woman who gives back to her community and encourages young women to follow their dreams.”
The article begins in true Kenya Moore fashion, “You can call me whatever you want, but I know that I’m fabulous!” Thus begins my interview with Kenya Moore. Unsurprised, I resign myself to a bon bon eating session, brimming with “shade” and “tea”. I base this on the persona she has displayed as one of the most infamous figures in today’s pantheon of reality television stars. Imagine my surprise when the former Miss USA and star of The Real Housewives of Atlanta begins to effectively dismantle many of my expectations, problematizing the messages young women of color receive from society.”
Kenya gets a plug in for the her hair product line that has long been in the works, Moore Hair Care, expected to be launched in March 2015. Kenya told Heart & Soul, “My Dad’s mom used to always say that hair is your crowning glory. I know that’s from the Bible, and I’ve kept that with me.”
Kenya’s philanthropic efforts were also recognized, “I was such a troubled girl throughout high school,” she recalls. “I always wanted to give back to young black girls, so I have the Kenya Moore Foundation, which awards scholarships to my alma mater.” In her recent blog, Kenya explained once again that the Celebrity Apprentice donation checks are held until the episode airs to avoid spoiling the show. She gave $20,000 on her own in October and was able to win another donation on the show.
Kenya discusses being a role model for younger girls. “A young woman asked, ‘How do you get self esteem?’” Moore pauses for a moment, and then explains that this stuck with her for some time. “It shocked me. I know that I have it, but I didn’t know where I got it from. [Now] I know I got it from my grandmother loving me, and from my father loving me. But the one thing I can also always point to is that I have accomplished things in my life that no one can take away from me. Winning Miss USA, being a trained dancer. I have talent. I have an education.”
Watch your local newsstand to grab your own copy!
The tug isn’t good enough for me. I want to see her run a brush through it. Her hair is too gorgeous to be real!
@Kat, your comment is loaded with a lot of insecurity. Her healthy hair is too gorgeous to be real. You’re like Vivica Fox who does comparison of Kenya’s before and after photos on Twitter. Because her body is too beautiful to be real.
Give it a rest, Kenya does not have to prove herself to you people.
@February Child.I think Kat was being fecitious, I dont think she actually needs Kenya to run a comb thru her hair.
Really?? Too gorgeous to be real?? Not a Kenya Moore fan but that is that comment was so not needed. Just say her hair is gorgeous.
You obviously don’t know what rooting means. Several people have rooted Kenya. It’s real.
On Fri, Jan 30, 2015 at 2:22 PM, Tamara Tattles wrote:
>
No I don’t know what rooting is. What is it? She’s lucky, her hair is just perfect!
When someone wears weave you can feel where it is tied in. Kenya has been “rooted” on TV many times with people feeling her roots for where the weave is sewn in.
On Fri, Jan 30, 2015 at 4:48 PM, Tamara Tattles wrote:
>
Got it, thanks Tamara! I am amazed hair like that really exists. I think it’s absolutely perfect. What a lucky lady she is!
You know what I find insulting? The idea that black women cannot grow hair. That is beyond insulting.
I love this blog by the way!
@TT~ Glad that you explained what rooting means. I have never heard of that term before. I highly recommend the Chris Rock movie, Good Hair. It shows what all afro-american women go through in their quest for “good hair.” Derek J from RHOA is in it too.
Kenya’s serving up some serious ribs.
Yep, she is gorgeous and looks fantastic for being in her late 40’s.
She’s not in her late forties. Women can be beautiful at all ages. Actually, some women age gracefully and become a true beauty with age.
Christie Brinkley is looking amazing at 61. She’s a phenomenon. That’s what life long fitness will do for you. That’s the only fountain of youth I know of, plus good genes.
I really like Kenya. She is so funny and smart. And she has handled herself with a lot of class. I know, the show is exploitive in some ways, but she does behave in a way that makes her a good role model for young girls of all races.
God..she really is stunning.
No shit and amen.
… and a Hail Mary
That head shot of her with the purple strappy top is gorgeous! I love her pics where her eyes aren’t too heavily made up. They’re rare. In this pic she looks like a true natural beauty.
You mean with her “seven sets of lashes” that Vivica said she wore?
Stop hating, you sound ugly Gemini.
OMG I did a Brandi, this was supposed to post somewhere else I did not delete the first part of the sentence Gemini, I’m sorry that was not for you..
Bwahahahahahaha Gemini was what I was trying to post. That post was for another post i tried to make earlier.
Good for her. And good that she once again explains the delay in paying the promised donations.
She is gorg and her body is smoken hot. I just wish the trend of so much of the light makeup under the eyes would go away with these make up artists. I understand the concept of shading and contouring the face but sometimes it makes it look like they have been laying out in the sun with sunglasses on all day. She is beautiful though and you can tell she works hard for that body!
Every night Phaedra prays to Jesus to Fix Her ( looks wise) like Kenya. Every morning she wakes up disappointed.
Would love to see a Kenya/Pheadra photo side by side in a peaches to pork loin kinda way.
That’s hilarious!
Kenya looks fabulous — and I really like her hair blown out straight! She doesn’t often wear it like that so it’s a nice change.
Cant stand this woman however she is pretty
Totally agree spring2 but we are in the minority here on the “Everyone adores Kenya” blog. I understand options and blogs yada had yada so no need for the Kenya twirlers to come at me because we know opinions like assholes all stink. 🙂
Wow, she looks incredible on that cover!
Beautiful!
It’s a four page spread with a really great article. Worth looking for.
On Fri, Jan 30, 2015 at 5:48 PM, Tamara Tattles wrote:
>
Congrats to K.Moore! I believe the same way all the other so called Housewives have used these so called reality shows to springboard,established,or reinvent their careers.I look forward to Kenya to having a bright future.Perhaps,meet her mate,a child,and enter back into the savvy world of entrepreneurs! She is well spoken,intellectual,and pretty.Just remember to be humble and praise God always.
I love her comment about her achievements and how no one can take them from her. I am so glad there were people around her who, while they can never take the place of her mother, at least gave her enough love so that she was able to achieve some success in life. Because it could have so easily gone another way. I am so glad she is on this show because of what she’s survived in life and what an example she can be to young people with shitty/absent/mentally ill/drug addicted, etc parents. That is a powerful message that she carries wherever she goes. I also love that when she’s filming with friends or whatever they are always cutting up and having fun. It doesn’t surprise me that she and Claudia are friends, because she seems like a mess too. Cynthia is much more bearable around them than around the diva of gloom and doom drama, Nene Leakes.
Well, it helps if your beautiful, and you know it too, so why wouldn’t you have high self esteem? I think Kenya gets away with a lot of her bad behavior based on her looks. Just like the first jury foreman of the Arias trial was hoodwinked by Jodi’s pretty face. If Jodi was unattractive and 300 pounds, she would of got the Death Penalty, I don’t doubt that for a minute.
Why is it that someone so confident, thinks so highly of herself, is so catty, mean-spirited and cant get along with no others?
“I think Kenya gets away with a lot of her bad behavior based on her looks.” – That couldn’t be further from the truth. The woman gets accused of everything.
Perception really is everything.
@jteaspills It seems like the opposite and I feel the same way about claudia. the pretty team can’t get away with ANYTHING!
Can’t get along with others — you mean Terrel Ownes? Oops, not Kenya gets along with him; you must mean Ian Ziering or Claudia Jordan or Demetria or Roger Bobb — oh, that’s right Kenya gets along with them too. So the “others” you mean are Nene who has literally fought with everyone on RHOA, including her new BFFs Phaedra the lying attorney-mortician and Porsha, the half-wit hooker.
Or maybe you mean the drunken fool Brandi — whom Jeff Lewis confirmed on WWHL was the one who went up (drunk of course) to Kenya at the Bravo upfronts “looking for a fight”?
Not getting along with the likes of those 4 is actually a feather in Kenya’s cap as people can tell who you are by your friends and by who you are *not* friends with.
Perfectly said – angienc
Gemini your disparaging comments about Kena puts you in the some class as Phaedra, Porsha, Brandi , Nene and Vivica. Picture a troop of chimpanzees throwing their own shit at her hoping some of it will stick and all you have accomplished is smelling foul from your own excrement.
Well said, Kate!
That is a beautiful pic of Kenya above (the head shot). She oozes confidence. I imagine it does come off as arrogance to some people, but like she said her accomplishments and talents cannot be taken away from her. As far as her bumping heads with other women, I think she gives as good as she gets.
Kenya is winning. Great article recap TT.
She is so gorgeous! How in the world is she still single?!?!
In the article it says she was proposed to 8 times and said yes once…
I think that is a low number for her age. Maybe she just had longer relationships than I did. I ran for the hills ever time. I think a prefer a more unavailable man. 🙂
On Fri, Jan 30, 2015 at 10:10 PM, Tamara Tattles wrote:
>
She is gorgeous. What’s wrong with being single? She is her own person not arm candy. I like her.
She seems hellbent on this having a kid on her own storyline. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. But if she is serious, I hope she is able to do that.
I guess my maternal instinct isn’t as strong as some others. Had I met someone I wanted to marry and who wanted to marry me and HE wanted to have a kid, I would have. But I don’t feel any great sense of loss for not having them. I had a couple dozen kids every year that I got to teach how to behave, spend lots of time with instilling a quest for knowledge in unconventional ways when I could and not have to deal with all the drama.
I kind of won only I can’t guilt any of them into taking care of me in my old age.
On Fri, Jan 30, 2015 at 10:53 PM, Tamara Tattles wrote:
>
To contradict Freud, Anatomy is not Destiny. If one has any doubts about having children, don’t have them. I do dislike women being told they are not fulfilled unless they have kids and a man and a great career. My spouse, child, and career added to my life, but they didn’t define me. It took me a good 10 years to realize what I do is not who I am.
How thrilling it must have been to see “it click” in a kid when they realized they could read, do a tough math problem, etc.
If Kenya wants a baby, she should have one. But if she wants a little adoring satellite, she should get a purse dog.
A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle.
The fat cat says hey to Banjo.
banjo says to tell fat cat to tell you to stop quoting feminazis. He is very pissed with his female owner today who has been a bitch ALL DAMN DAY and barely fed him a substandard meal. At this point, he is considering moving in with fat cat.
On Fri, Jan 30, 2015 at 11:36 PM, Tamara Tattles wrote:
>
The fat cat says plenty of party mix to share, plus cheeseburgers for dinner tonight. Big yard and no little kids. Fat Cat stays inside.
Feel better. I’m still on a a shit load of prednisone and it gives me SUMS disorder. Sudden ugly mood swings. I empathize.
Yaaaas! She’s such an inspiration. I love her attitude and drive. You go, Kenya! You go! Xoxo!
I could like her so much better if she didn’t act so full of herself. The pompous “I’m fabulous” thing. I get it, you have great self esteem and you are woman and all that, but dial it back a little. A touch of humility would go a long ways.
She’s just being silly. That’s the problem, you guys take Kenya so seriously. Loosen up. It never comes off as pompous because her demeanor in acting that way is so over the top and goofy.
Yeah but it is a lot. She’s trying to pimp the song. Still. And even I am bored with it.
On Sat, Jan 31, 2015 at 12:01 AM, Tamara Tattles wrote:
>
I agree. I honestly don’t think she really REALLY believes it.
On Fri, Jan 30, 2015 at 11:56 PM, Tamara Tattles wrote:
>
I want those abs! I blow hot and cold with Kenya….couldn’t stand her the first seasons she came on but this season I’m liking her more. She still seems a very polarizing person but I think it’s great that she is venturing onto new things. Hoping more good things come her way.
When Kenya came on RHOA, the women (Nene, Phaedra, Porsha, Candy and Cynthia) graced her with the same hospitality they are giving to Demetria and Claudia. Phaedra continuously made snide remarks about Kenya (insinuating that she is mentally ill and a whore), because Kenya refused to work with and for her for free (today there are stories of Phaedra doing the same to Kandi). The snide remarks we see Phaedra make to Demetria is the same she doled out to Kenya in her first few seasons on the show.
Porsha willfully made fun of her title as miss USA and “deny her accolades” (funny this was the theme of the last episode, “denying accolades”) making fun of her looks and her skin. She called her ashy and implied she had bad breath.
Kandi took the word of a felon and she disliked Kenya because of her relationship with Phaedra. The Kandi that is rumoured to have a child fathered by a married man.
Nene disliked Kenya because she hated to be outshone, and Kenya had that look that she Nene can never accomplish: clean.
Cynthia, I hate to join the gang to say this, but she had no real reason to hate Kenya. She disliked Kenya for making the cooshie-crack comment. And in fact Kenya was right. That model had her genitals on full display. I do not see the class that is used in reference to Cynthia, because her angst towards Kenya for speaking the truth, tells a lot about her kind of “class” and as we’ve seen from Janice Dickerson, gracing the runways does not make class.
This season, we see Kenya taking a girlfriend role and keeping out of the drama, but yet without speaking, she is pulled into the drama and accused of causing the drama.
On Celebrity Apprentice, Brandi, Leeza, Vivica, Shawn and the other athlete says the meanest things to Kenya, and she remains silent, yet she is labelled as the trouble maker. When she does speak up for herself, she is called evil.
Lets face it white women. The only reason we say these mean things about Kenya is because she is a confident black woman. She is as dramatic, neurotic, arrogant, polarizing and full of herself as the women of New York, New Jersey, OC, Beverly Hills, Miami. Yet she is vilified in the blogs and on twitter. We would prefer if she was classless, tacky and “black” like Nene, Phaedra, Porsha, Claudia, CYnthia and Kandi. These women are how we envision black women to be. Kenya is crazy (but not crazier than others), fun, articulate, seemingly educated, good head on her shoulders and she could identify with what white women view as normal, so that does not sit well with us. It doesn’t sit well with us that she is beautiful or have her own hair, so we harp on the fake hair, fake body, fake man, fake life, fake attitude diatribe, because to us if she is not acting in the ways we stereotype black women to be, then she is fake.
In all the silly shows that black women are featured, Kenya seems to be a step above the “blackness” and that riles the insecure masses. To them she has to be putting on airs, arrogant, fake, a troublemaker etc. How is she different from Louann who claimed to be a countess, or Ramona the drunken fish who grew up in the sticks, yet feels that is better than other women? How is Kenya different from Sonia who sleeps around a lot, can’t afford dental care and “invest millions in projects” that never bear fruit?
I have read many comments on blogs, twitter and on here where Kenya is referred to as bipolar, mental, crazy etc. When did mental illness or implying that someone is mentally ill became an insult?
my above comment was to Rose who constantly refer to Kenya as “polarizing”
For the first time I am reading the words of great mind and an intelligent articulated perspective thinker.
This is exactly what I have been saying since Kenya became a part of o
The RHOA cast….. They put her through Hell…. Now they’re going after beautiful Claudia.
I do agree with a lot of what youre saying, but at the same time you’re…kind of projecting your own racist sentiments.
And I’m with Kenya all day, but she was a huge bitch to Cynthia when she first came on.
I do agree with a lot of what youre saying, but at the same time you’re…kind of projecting your own racist sentiments.
And I’m with Kenya all day, but she was definitely a huge bitch to Cynthia when she first came on.
Jesus Christ.
On Sat, Jan 31, 2015 at 1:55 AM, Tamara Tattles wrote:
>
I agree with you February Child.
“It doesn’t sit well with us that she is beautiful or have her own hair, so we harp on the fake hair, fake body, fake man, fake life, fake attitude diatribe, because to us if she is not acting in the ways we stereotype black women to be, then she is fake.” So true but many black women feel this way about her.
She looks fabulous!
I’m happy when any of the Atlanta HWs get a job, cover or play etc.
Good for Kenya. Reality tv only lasts so long. Transitioning into something better is their goal I guess. I hope she gets more of them.
@Psylocke, it may be my own racism I am projecting, but it’s the truth nonetheless.
Kenya was a bitch to Cynthia? Did we watch the same show? She was a bitch because she stated the obvious, Cynthia held a casting call for models and it was a ghetto affair with women displaying their genetalia. Cynthia was ok with the kind of models too, such class huh
February, I agree with everything you said. TRUTH BE TOLD. She has the insecure haters and the others who want her to dumb down her confidence and intelligence in order to even the playing game. It is so ingrained that people operate in the subconscious. Kenya ..keep winning!
I have a friend whose daughter is 30, dark skinned, 5’4 (petite), about a size 0-2! Her hair is at her waist & over powers her due to her size. At first glance most would assume her hair is weaved especially because its hot combed which accentuates the thickness & not perm. A lot of people assume that dark skinned people cannot grown hair of this volume & length because generally fair skinned people usually have the longer, silky hair & I think we all know why.
She’s gorgeous. I was buying barbecue at a local gas station yesterday and I overheard the woman in front of me talking to the cashier about her hair. The woman works at the beauty school around the corner and I heard the cashier say something about her edges. When it was my turn I told her that I would never have known what edges were were it not for RHOA and Tamaratattles. All this reality tv is educational.
HA!
On Sat, Jan 31, 2015 at 1:23 PM, Tamara Tattles wrote:
>
Damn those abs & that hair, now I feel like crap for skipping the gym this morning! Kenyaaaaa!
I saw Good Hair! It was fascinating! And neat to hear where the hair in my wig came from.
@Kat~ I know, right? Could not believe what all goes into hair and the care of it. The scene with the chemist and the melting soda can was shocking. He was equally shocked when told that women put that same can melting chemical on their hair to relax it. Seeing the little 3 and 4 year olds sitting in shops and getting their hair relaxed was heartbreaking.
Completely heartbreaking. It kills me when anyone doesn’t think they were born beautiful. I wonder what his daughters hair looks like now.