Exclusive: Kandi Burruss Talks New Movie “Envy,” RHOA & Block’s False Narrative On Fatherhood

If it’s one thing we can say about Kandi Burruss, it’s that she stays booked and busy. Whether it’s in music or in front of the camera, she’s always in the mix. In promotion of her new film “Envy,” a part of the Lifetime Deadly Sins series, we spoke to Burruss about her role in the film, what’s coming up next for RHOA and those wild comments Block made about their relationship and parenting Riley. See what she had to say below. 

MadameNoire: Your career has taken on so many facets and changes. When you first got into the industry, did you see yourself becoming an actress? Was that a goal of yours?

Kandi Burruss: Actually, it was. When I was younger, I went to performing arts school for drama so it was always a dream of mine. Some of my friends believed I would pursue acting before singing. It just so happened that our group got our deal first. It was something I always wanted to do but once all our group and all the music stuff started taking off, I didn’t really pursue it the way that I should have.

I would say in the last five-six years, I said, I’m going to start going harder at my dreams of being an actress. So I started doing more auditions. My agent became focused on that so the first thing I did was Broadway. I had some other parts that I’d gotten because of scheduling or other situations that interfered with me being on other shows already.

Finally, things came around for me to be able to do “The Chi.” It almost didn’t work out because the part that I auditioned for, I got it. But they were going to need me for a longer period of time and it was going to cut into my filming time with the housewives. So I ended up with a different role, which I’m excited about because I love playing Roselyn [Perry] on “The Chi.”

It all worked out for the best but I was really scared that it was something else that was going to slip right through my fingers. And I guess, God didn’t want it to work out that way.

 

MN: Can you tell us about your character in the movie Envy and what attracted you to this role?

Kandi: Honestly, the first thing that attracted me to the Envy project was the fact that it was on Lifetime. Growing up, I would always watch Lifetime movies. I would be stuck at the tv all day. So when my agent told me it was an audition for Lifetime, I thought okay cool. Then Regan is a really cool character. I related to her.  She is this businesswoman. She’s Gabrielle’s (the main character of the movie) best friend. Gabrielle finds out she has this sister that she didn’t know about. And she wants to welcome Keisha, (who’s played by Serayah) into her family. And I’m telling her, ‘Hmm I don’t know about this girl.’ I’m looking out for her.

Honestly, I’m really like that in real life. So it was easy for me to adapt to this role.

The other funny part is that Regan is pregnant in the movie. So I had to wear a pregnancy suit. And when I tell you, sometimes it felt like I was really carrying a baby again. It had me sweating!

MN: With all the success that you’ve achieved, I know you’ve had your fair share of people being envious or jealous of you. We’ve seen some of that play out on “Real Housewives of Atlanta.” How do you handle those people in your life?

Kandi: I just have to keep pushing and not really pay them no mind. It’s nothing that you can do when you’re in that situation. Because it’s going to happen. As long as you’re doing something, there’s always going to  somebody who has something to say. So as long as you keep pushing and stay focused on keep giving them something to talk about.

MN: Speaking of RHOA, what can we expect from the reunion?

Kandi: Oh my goodness. Of course, it’s going to be a fair share of drama. That’s what we bring. It’s the craziness of Kenya and Porsha going back and forth and daggone Drew and LaToya. It was a situation where somebody from one of the ladies’ teams went into another lady’s dressing room, uninvited. And it was not cool. You’re going to see all about that. It was very interesting. I’ll say that.

MN: Now, I don’t know if you want to address this or not but a couple of months ago, Block was saying that he wasn’t going to jump through hula hoops in order to have a relationship with Riley and when you got pregnant, he was with someone else so that affect the way that he parented. Did you have any thoughts about that?

Kandi: Laughs. I heard he said a lot, girl. I didn’t really address a lot of it because it was this ongoing situation. Everybody put out this narrative that he was a married man. First of all, he was not married. That was some B.S. I didn’t even know that he was in that relationship because he had been lying. Most women, if you start talking to a dude and he’s in another situation, he’s not telling you this.

The only reason why I found out about the relationship was because I actually checked his voicemail one day and heard her on there. They love to tell everybody I called her. I called her because I heard a voicemail. And I was like, ‘Come clean, tell the truth.’ He said, ‘You can do whatever.’ So I’m like, okay well I’ll call her myself. He said, ‘Call her then!’ He didn’t think I had the number. But I had it because I checked the voicemail.

After I had that conversation, he and I never talked—I mean we communicated—but we never kicked it on an intimate level after that.

The thing that I don’t like is when guys don’t want to do their part, then they want to turn around and somehow make it like it was your fault that they didn’t do what they were supposed to do.

Just take care of your responsibilities. Our daughter is daggone 18-years-old now, in college, doing her thing. You have not been doing your part, the part you said you were going to do. So it’s just as simple as that.

He ain’t with neither one of us no more so I don’t know why he bringing her up or me up, to be honest with you.

So now you need to be focused on doing his part, which now he’s going to do because they’re going to make him pay his back child support. I’m not mad and I hope he ain’t either.

We as women need to stop trying to believe the lie of the guy and find ways to blame each other. It’s real simple.

It does get annoying when people try to push false narratives to make themselves look better. You were supposed to do your part like I was supposed to do mine.

The sad thing is, my daughter hit me and was like, ‘Mom, are you okay?’ I was like, ‘I’m fine!’ I wanted to cuss his ass out but I am fine.

We literally only kicked it for a few months. If it wasn’t for Riley, I would not even remember him.

MN: We know you always have something coming up. So what’s next for you?

Kandi: Oh my gosh, it’s a lot coming up. First of all, it’s Taurus season so much love to all the Tauruses out there, we gon be lit the whole month.

The first thing is the release of Envy, April 17 on Lifetime.

Sunday is the finale of “Real Housewives of Atlanta.” The 25^th is the first part of the reunion for RHOA. Then you got the following week, it’s another part.

Then May 8 is the Verzuz between Xscape and SWV. It’s going to be lit. I cannot wait for that. We love SWV, it’s a whole sisterhood between both groups. But we got our little plans. We gon be ready. It’s going to be enjoyable for everybody.

Then my birthday is May 17. I’m going to make that a big situation.

I’m going to put together a Virtual Dungeon. I don’t have a date yet. It’s still going to be fun and everybody’s got to be a part of it. So I’m excited about that.

Then May 23 is the air date for season four of “The Chi.”

So it’s back to back stuff and I’m excited.