ABC "Dancing With the Stars" season 30 couples Brandon Armstrong and Kenya Moore, Sasha Farber and Suni Lee, and Melora Hardin and Artem Chigvintsev.
“The Real Housewives of Atlanta” star Kenya Moore was a contestant on season 30 of “Dancing With the Stars” alongside professional dancer Brandon Armstrong.
Now that “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” has picked up again, Moore is opening up about her time on the dancing competition show, saying that the show helped her heal after her marriage ended.
Moore Says DWTS Pulled Her Out of a ‘Dark Place’
On the May 12 episode of “The Real,” Moore said that appearing on “Dancing With the Stars” helped pull her out of a dark place.
At first, she said, she felt that she didn’t really belong on the show “because they were all pros and a lot of the contestants, the celebrities, they had pro experience, and I was just this girl from Detroit who took free classes at the community center.”
She said she was “elated” when she received the call to compete on “Dancing With the Stars” because it “came right on time because I was so down on myself.”
Moore, who was 50 last fall when she appeared on the show, said she was going through a divorce from New York restaurateur Marc Daly at the time and “trying to figure out how to be a single mom; how to take care of my business.”
“You know, it just took me out of this really dark place, and it just made me feel alive again, like valuable again, where people can see me because I wasn’t seen in my marriage,” she said. “And I had this wonderful partner who just made me feel great to just be there every day.”
Moore said that the show “was just a great experience” for her.
She and Daly are getting divorced after four years of marriage. They were married on June 10, 2017, and welcomed their only child, Brooklyn, in 2018. A year later, the couple separated and then split again in 2021 after a brief reconciliation in early 2020. On the May 15 episode of “Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen,” she said she was still in the process of getting a divorce, per People.
“I feel like it’s been going on for years too,” she said. “I want it to be over. The hold-up is on the other side.”
When host Andy Cohen said he was “sorry to hear” that the divorce had yet to be finalized, Moore agreed with him.
“I’m sorry to hear that too,” she said. “Get me free! Get me free!”
Costars Accused Moore of Having a Crush on Armstrong
Armstrong, 27, has since gotten engaged to Brylee Ivers, a 23-year-old social media manager from Utah, but some of Moore’s costars accused her of having a crush on the professional dancer.
In a preview clip for the new season of “Real Housewives of Atlanta,” Moore says she loves Armstrong.
“I have been in Los Angeles so that I can do ‘Dancing With the Stars’ darling! Yesss!” Moore says in the clip. “Brandon Armstrong is my ‘Dancing’ partner. I love him so much. Everything about him, his personality – he’s giving, he’s kind, very handsome and he definitely knows how to move his hips.”
The couple ultimately finished in 10th place on “Dancing With the Stars,” getting eliminated on October 25.
“Dancing With the Stars” will return in the fall of 2022 in a new home. The show will now air live exclusively on Disney+ instead of on ABC.
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