Kandi Girl

They said 2024 would be the year of major revelations, where everyone’s secrets would finally surface. Everything lurking in the shadows would be exposed, and some of us had no idea just how deep the darkness went. We usually stick to Housewives chatter, but this latest bombshell has caused such an uproar in the entertainment world, it’s impossible to ignore. We have to address it.

First off, I have to admit, I was traveling for the past few weeks when the news hit. I was trying to disconnect—from the world, from podcasting, from Housewives blogging—and decided to avoid the news, as this topic is both heavy and heartbreaking. It wasn’t easy, but I managed to stay mostly uninformed. I even saved some videos for the plane ride back. With over seven hours in the air, I figured that would be plenty of time to get lost in the rabbit hole.

Everywhere you look—online, TV, social media—people are trying to piece together who knew what, and who else was involved. Fans are going to great lengths to dig up old photos of their favorite celebs with the disgraced music mogul or attending his infamous white parties. Personally, I don’t believe that simply attending one of his events makes someone guilty by association. The real concern seems to be the “parties within the party.” That said, I would question anyone who continued going to his events after knowing what was really happening. These rumors have been circulating the industry for years. A lot of people knew.

And a lot of people didn’t care.

It’s typical for fans to anxiously wait for statements from high-profile celebrities. After all, he had connections with a lot of people, and many were connected to him. For years, he was treated like a god, publicly praised—and some still do, despite the accusations. On social media, people are calling out celebrities, pressuring them to speak up and disavow their ties to him. Some have spoken out, doing interviews and quickly defending their stance, distancing themselves from him; others continue to support him openly, while some remain completely silent.

Nothing but crickets.

Usually, I like to tie my content back to all things Housewives, and this time is no exception. The first person who came to mind, someone who must have crossed paths with him at some point, considering she’s also in the music industry and a powerhouse in her own right:

Has Kandi Burruss weighed in on the recent chain of events?

It's not every day that the Housewives franchise features an A-list celebrity like Kandi. Most Housewives either launched their businesses while on the show, were socialites of some kind, or married to wealthy businessmen. Some were entrepreneurs in their own right. Of course, we have the Beverly Hills ladies with their child acting careers, but that show came much later than Atlanta. It's fair to say Kandi was the first Housewife recruited as a true high-profile cast member. She was definitely the first.

Before joining Atlanta’s second season, Kandi was, and still is, a successful songwriter. She’s written for just about everyone in the music industry—TLC, Destiny’s Child, Pink, and Mariah Carey, just to name a few. She’s also a Grammy Award winner with countless accolades. Kandi has genuine star power, and she made her mark long before Housewives ever existed.

By now, you get the picture—Kandi Burruss has been truly booked and busy for a long time, and not #bookedandbusy in the way Teresa Giudice likes to define it.

She was also part of a ‘90s R&B girl group called Xscape.

For those unfamiliar with the R&B or hip-hop scene, the group was discovered by Jermaine Dupri. Xscape was signed to his label, So So Def. Jermaine even made a brief appearance on The Real Housewives of Atlanta when Nene Leakes interviewed him for her first project with a local TV network.

A household name in the industry, Jermaine was also romantically involved with Kandi while she was part of Xscape. They kept their relationship mostly private, though two of the group members were aware of their secret romance. During that time, Kandi was actively journaling and shared some of her secrets in her diary. She later mentioned that she suspected one of her bandmates got hold of her diary and read it.

One particular rumor has haunted Kandi for years: One of her  former bandmate claimed during a radio interview that Kandi was not only romantically linked to Jermaine Dupri but also intimate with his father, Michael Mauldin, who was a high-ranking executive in the music industry - Several years later, she retracted her statement and publicly apologized to Kandi, as per Kandi’s request, since the ladies were reuniting to film a reality TV show and embark on a national tour.

I’m not aware of whether Kandi pursued legal action after her former friend made those comments about her, but I must say it would be surprising if she didn’t consider suing for defamation. Given that she has consistently maintained that those accusations are false and damaging to her reputation.

Jermaine Dupri isn’t without his own controversies—his breakup with Janet Jackson created quite a stir in the 2000s, and there are some wild theories about him circulating on social media, particularly regarding his past relationship with the acclaimed hip-hop group Kris Kross, whom he discovered as teenagers. One of the mothers made some intriguing remarks about Jermaine and the now resident inmate at Brooklyn Federal Prison, highlighting their influence on the young boys. Tragically, one of them passed away at the age of 34, which was ruled an overdose after he struggled with drug addiction. Below is one of the many videos online that allege and speculate about the former duo and their experiences in the industry:

Some of this information should, of course, be taken with a grain of salt and approached with caution—after all, people die every day for various reasons. Recently, while on the red carpet, Jermaine was asked about the accusations against his long-time friend, and here’s what he had to say:

The internet can leave your head spinning with stories about everyone from Aaliyah, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes of TLC, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, and Prince, to Aaron Carter, Chester Bennington, and Chris Cornell of Linkin Park, among many others. For years, people have speculated that the former disgraced mogul’s wife, Kim Porter, passed away under suspicious circumstances. Rumor has it that an initial autopsy yielded a different conclusion before being ruled as pneumonia later on.

Several Atlanta TV personalities and A-listers attended Kim Porter’s funeral. Notable attendees included Nene Leakes, Cynthia Bailey, Faith Evans, and Kandi Burruss, who all took to their social media accounts to pay tribute to Kim, with whom they shared a friendship.

I’m almost certain that the first death in the Real Housewives franchise occurred on The Real Housewives of Atlanta with Ashley Jewell, known as AJ, who was Kandi Burrus’s fiancé at the time, at the end of Season 2. AJ was involved in a bar fight, sustained head injuries, and later passed away. Their relationship unfolded on screen, highlighting a tense dynamic between Kandi, her mother Mama Joyce, who disapproved of Kandi and AJ’s romance, leading to many strained moments among the trio that viewers witnessed.

What’s even more disturbing is that two years after AJ’s death, his daughter Asheley Jewell was shot in the head during a road rage incident while she was a passenger in a car. She was in critical condition for a time but eventually was discharged. At the time of the incident, she was only 15 years old.

Kandi has experienced her share of tragic events and losses. During Season 3, while revealing their alter ego photos from a photo shoot, she shared that she had lost a family member to a drunk driver in a car accident. Although it’s unclear who this family member was from the show, Kandi’s heartfelt message through her picture undoubtedly resonated with many.

Before Kandi became a Housewife, she lost her older brother, Patrick Riley, in 1991. Kandi was just 15 years old when he passed away in a car crash on June 17, 1991, in Mexico. The exact circumstances surrounding the accident remain unclear to this day. Kandi frequently honors her brother’s death anniversary on social media and even paid tribute to him on the show alongside her current husband, Todd Tucker, and her mother, Mama Joyce.

According to Kandi, her brother often served as the mediator and voice of reason within her girl group, Xscape. Shortly after his passing, Mama Joyce, who had an insurance policy on her son, used some of the insurance proceeds and made sound investments that led to a comfortable level of financial freedom.

Some might find it unusual to have life insurance on one’s children. However, it’s worth noting that Kandi’s brother also played football, and perhaps due to the nature of the sport, Mama Joyce exercised caution and believed it was wise to have him insured.

Nonetheless, Mama Joyce has had a tumultuous journey on The Real Housewives of Atlanta, often perceived by fans as overly protective of her daughter Kandi, with a tendency to interfere in her romantic relationships and friendships. She’s notorious for wanting to confront a few people and has had some explosive outbursts directed at Kandi’s childhood friend Carmon, even going so far as to threaten to attack her with her shoe.

But that didn’t stop there. Mama Joyce went even further and was caught on audio trying to pay women to flirt with Todd Tucker, who was set to marry Kandi, in hopes that he would find himself in compromising situations, preventing Kandi from meeting him at the altar.

Despite the tensions with her mother, Kandi ended up marrying Todd anyway, even after Mama Joyce threatened to wear black to her daughter’s wedding. We wish we could chalk up her loose and cutting tongue to too much liquid courage, but unfortunately, Mama Joyce was always sober when she made those comments and acted out.

And Kandi never drinks.

Initially, I thought her decision stemmed from her religious background and strong spiritual beliefs.

With the recent revelations about illicit substances and spiked drinks at these industry parties, it’s much clearer why someone in her position, as a teen star, always chose to refrain from drinking anything that could cloud her judgment or common sense. Perhaps she witnessed or heard enough to make her cautious. This may have been her way of protecting herself from a host of deviant vultures in the entertainment business.

Perhaps, Kandi's fierce reaction to the accusations thrown at her by Porsha and Phaedra that season may have revealed a deeper significance than we initially realized.

November 2023 will forever mark the moment the music industry was turned upside down when survivor Cassy Ventura found the courage and her voice to expose the dark underbelly of that world. In February 2024, Kandi announced on the red carpet at the Grammys that she was stepping back from her role as an Atlanta Housewife, which surprised many fans since Kandi had been a beloved cast member for 14 seasons.

Many celebrities have opted for distance at this time. It’s a lot to digest, given the severity of the accusations. Whether some choose to follow the conspiracy theory route or focus on hard facts, it ultimately doesn’t matter; it’s your own journey to navigate.

Just don’t stay silent.

It’s time.

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