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Knowing Kenya
Detroit native and Basketball Wives cast member Kenya Bell on the “reality” of reality TV
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You may think you know Kenya Bell, but you have no idea.
Earlier this year, the world at large got to meet Detroit native Bell (formerly Howard) via VH-1’s hit reality show “Basketball Wives.” From the jump, the Michigan State grad was painted as the scary, wannabe—the woman who in her mid-30s was too old to pursue her dreams of music superstardom, and the new wife who flapped her lips too much about one of the show’s stars, Evelyn Lozada.
But the truth is—and I can write this as someone who’s known Bell for years—she’s perfectly normal. I talk with Bell about her music, the show and how much her life has changed because of it.
What even made you want to jump into the reality TV space?
There were a couple of things. I’ve always wanted to sing and to write a book and what better way to do those things than with an audience of 5 million viewers? So just the thought of me sitting here doing the things that I’ve dreamed about doing and then having an outlet of viewers from a reality TV show was a great idea to me.
And then another reason is to basically let people know who I really was—at least, that’s what I thought was gonna happen—because there was news out that I had stabbed my estranged husband and all of this crazy stuff. And I’m like, you know, These are lies. This is not who I am. So if I have a chance to do this show then maybe people can start to learn who I really am and not who the media’s portraying me to be.
