Kenya Moore, reality TV show star of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, recently opened up about her struggles with abandonment issues.
In the newest episode of FOX’s Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test Moore opened up about her difficult childhood and her estranged relationship with her mother and spoke candidly about the emotional toll that her childhood experiences have had on her.
“I think I’ve come a long way from where I used to be,” the 51-year-old said. “My daughter — she’s 3, and she’s just the world to me. I had her very late in life, but I wanted to be the type of mom to my daughter that I never had.”
In the episode, Moore is confronted about her “angry, aggressive, petty, vindictive” persona.
“I had teenage parents,” she explains. “My mom didn’t want to have me, so my grandmother asked if she could have me. After that, my mother kind of pretended that she never had a child. It just got worse and worse.”
“I was just angry,” she added through tears.
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In an interview with The Cut, The former Miss USA spoke about why she joined the show, Special Forces in the first place.
I wanted to face my fears,” she said. “But it’s a little bit of vanity involved too, because I wanted my daughter to see that not only do I talk the talk but I walk the walk.”
Although her experience with RHOA is over, Moore still has some opinions about how it shaped her life as a mother and the future of the show.
“The new Housewives … They are performing,” she said. “They are making up stories, they are doing things just to stay relevant. And to me, that is the demise of what could be truly an amazing love story. Because the fans love us. We are the premier Housewives.”
Watch a clip from the Special Forces episode below: