The Emancipation of Mimi: An Exclusive with Mariah Huq

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Squad was my best friend, Like I saw something in her and I wanted to share the stage with all of them, but especially her.

00:00:11
Speaker 2: Stay tuned. We'll get into my conversation with Mariah huck right after these quick ads. Welcome to Reality with the King. It's me Carlos King, the King of Reality TV and one of the most sought after executive producers in reality television. With over ten years a production experience, I've executive produced top rated programs such as eight seasons of the Real House Spots of Atlanta. Additionally, I have created shows such as Netflix Is Styling, Hollywood Owns number one rated Love and Marriage Franchise, and TV ones Hollywood Divas, just to name a few. So y'all know I have many jobs, child, Okay, just saying. New episodes of Reality with the King will air once a week on Wednesdays, will resume airing twice a week in June. In the meantime, make sure you catch my new late night talk show, The Night Capain Carlos King on the Oprah Winfrey Network every Saturday night starting May fourteenth, immediately following Love and Marriage, DC Wow, Hey, Rain drops today's guest on Reality with the King, is one of my really good judies. She also just happens to be, in my opinion, one of the most underrated reality TV stars. She's also an executive producer, creator, and former cast member of Married to Medicine. Yes, that's right, we got the one and the only, Mariah huck Let me tell y'all why I wanted Mariah on the podcast number one. She's my girl, she's my friend. I love her, I adore her. But I also feel like she is so misunderstood. And as you guys have seen with the guests that I've had on thus far, I like to talk to misunderstood women because look, I want you guys to see the side of them that I know. Oftentimes on television you see one side. And when it comes to Mariah especially, she is a good girl. She is a oh my gosh, she's hilarious, she's smart, she's a hard worker, and I know how much she loved the show she created. Yeah, that's right, she created Mary to Medicine. We get down to the nitty gritty, y'all. We talk about whether or not she was fired from Married to Medicine, how she was asked to be a peach holder on the Royal Hospitals of Atlanta, and last but LEAs we talk about her healing and how she decided to choose peace over pain. Get into this epic conversation with my girl, be Mariyah Hawk Mariah, you are a legend, and I don't use that word loosely. Your fans tweek me almost every day. Can you create a show for Mariyah? Can she be on Loving Marriage Atlanta? Do something for my girl? So let the girls know. I'm Mariyah. How are you doing? What have you been up to?

00:03:34
Speaker 1: First of all, let me say thank you, and I do. I don't take it likely. I'm very humble. While I am humble by to me, I haven't made the type of history that I know that I can do and that I know you are already doing. So I've been planning on being more of a legend. I really do. This is just the beginning. So you know, I took a I've been I just took like a sabbatical four minute. You know, I had who I was dealing with so much tying up loose ends with the show and everything. So now I just I've really been working on me and family, like my kid Laurence graduating this year. I'm opening up a new shared co work space with the building I bought a few years ago. I have a media space coming over six thousand square feet and downtown mcdonna. I'm working on scripted. I started as a writer, and I'm getting back to that, you know, and the thing about this business that I love, or just about in general, when you have talent, people can't take that away from you. And so I just I'm really getting to what I tried to do initially, which was tell a story that was my I felt like was my story, and so I feel like now I'm kind of getting back to that. So I've been back writing and just really I mean getting a coin. I mean, she gets you can't get into the coin. She may not be posting, but I think sometimes you have to go underwater, you really do. I appreciate the f I've had so much support. I've had support from every which way. So I'm truly grateful for that because that has kept me going. It really has.

00:05:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, I'm with you with the lack of posting. One thing I learned from Tyler Perry is he says, sometimes God has to hide you. Yeah, sometimes you need to be hidden so that you're able to cultivate the things that you want to do that God wants you to do, so that when you re emerge from isolation, that's when you're ready to take on everything for you. And I feel like that's exactly what you're talking about.

00:05:36
Speaker 1: It is, you know. I mean, if Tyler says, we definitely have to listen, but you know at some point it's the truth. I am here for social media. I just felt like for me, You're right, I had to go under water and do what God has for me to do. Every time I tried to go back to social media, to be honest, something happened and it would be like sit down, be still. So I knew he was doing some things in my life and work on something bigger and better. I just I needed to focus, and I get I'm gonna leave it. Look, I get caught off, I get off balanced. I have to have tunnel vision, and the peripheral vision sometimes would throw me off, so I have to stay focused, especially when I'm talking about a coin. Yes, it's just different. It's different, and you know you got to do bigger, do better, and do it in a more explosive way. And I am definitely about doing that.

00:06:25
Speaker 2: Yes, well, listen, you are a maverick. Honey. Let me let the audience know that I met Mariah for the first time when I was producing The Real Housewives of Atlanta and Carlos King wanted Mariah so badly to be an Atlanta housewife. And I don't know if the girls know this, but we takee scenes for Mariah to be a peach holder. So Carlos King working on Atlanta Housewives, I get a phone call. You know we're casting. We found it woman, Mariah, can you shoot a few scenes with her? Sure? Shot a few scenes with Mariah with her beautiful sister Lake. And I call the executives and said, she's a no brainerd like, she needs to be on the show. And tell me if I'm wrong, Mariah. But I believe the issue was we all wanted you, but you didn't want us.

00:07:24
Speaker 1: No, no, no, you know what. To be honest with you, that was not the case.

00:07:29
Speaker 2: You know what it was.

00:07:30
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be perfectly honest with you, and I really did my inspiration. Let me be very clear, or people like you, Princess and Nini, like what you guys had done was so amazing So it wasn't that I didn't want you, guys. It was at once I started, once I embarked on my journey to do my own you know, I felt like, you know what, I'm already close. Let me just see this thing through. Even though initially there would have been more money, more notoriety, more a better reach infiltration. But once I started on my journey and I set my own goals, I just felt like I needed to see me into medicine through. My steps were already ordered.

00:08:10
Speaker 2: Yeah me, and let me let them know. So I'm of course laughing when I say you don't want us, and to me, that's a big compliment because as a black person in this business, you have choices, and there's freedom and choices. One of my favorite moments from King Richard was when Venus Williams was offered two million dollars if she signed with Nike before she played, and she knew Venus knew her worth, and she said, I'll wait this out because I want to be able to showcase my skills because I know I can get more of a bag. So Mariah turned down being on the show guys, because she created her own show called Mariti medicine that she was pitching. So Mariah always believed in herself, believed in ownership, real house, reponsible Atlanta, especially at that time because this was during season four Maria. It was the biggest show at Atlanta and the world.

00:09:04
Speaker 1: It was.

00:09:05
Speaker 2: But Mariah knew as a black moman, as a content creator, let me see this through something I created my way, so let the girls know about that.

00:09:16
Speaker 1: You know what, It was really hard. I'm not gonna lie to you because when people are offering you a bag, and what they do is they come back with more money and more money and more money.

00:09:24
Speaker 2: We wanted this, you know what.

00:09:26
Speaker 1: And the money is so good. But you're right. You said the key words. And I had the type of parents that told me to know your worth. So it started way beyond TV. I knew who I was before I went to TV. I knew what I wanted to do. It was really hard, though, because delayed gratification is always tough, saying you know what, I'm gonna do this now, I'm gonna put in the work. Now, I'm not gonna see a dime of it. Because they were offering me much more than I received initially as a creator, executive producer and star or one of these stars of marriage to medicine. I actually would have made more just initially being on Real Housewives of VALANCEA. And it's really really important for people to know, because you do have to give up something and it's a lot of sacrifices you make. But I did it because it was more. It wasn't just about securing the bag. It was about securing the legacy. I have two amazing children, you know now, they're like, one is this graduating senior headed to college, the others a tenth grade. And for me, it was about creating a legacy and something that they can own and something they can have that we can pass down. So even though I knew that Real Housewives of Valanca would have been amazing for me, my career would have gave me a reach beyond. I knew that creating my own was a step in the direction that God wanted me to go. So it was ourd and I pitched. They told me no initially when I pitched the show.

00:10:52
Speaker 2: Yes, so let us know the story. Explain to us how you started from creating the show to pitch it to being on the air. Give us that quick and.

00:11:00
Speaker 1: They initially came to me for Housewives Atlanta season three, the season they was casting Cynthia initially, and Aiden was like giving me pushback, which I was shocked, you know. He was like, yeah, how you And because you know, this is still unscripted TV, it was a little different, and initially, you know, different careers looked kind of turned their nose down at unscripted. I'm just keeping it real and it hadn't and it wasn't in Atlanta. It was still it was kind of still new in Atlanta. So to make a long story show. He was like, you know what, I once you get back to what you what you love doing. I know you love TV, but this isn't right for us. I'm like, this is perfect for us. And then he was like, well, just tell the story that you've been telling, which is the truth. It was like living, working and playing with the doctors and everything. So I started doing my own I did my own treatment. You know, I was pitching. I had been pitching before then once I seen the show, but I made it better once I saw Housewives and saw it evolved, because you see the evolution of unscripted TV like as it goes by, So I just kept pitching. They told me no. They told me they would Initially, when I went to Bravo, they said they will never do No. When I went to the production company, they said, Bravo will never do a show that competes with one of the top shows on their network, which is Real Houses of the Lansa. And I said, well, they have a lot of shows that are competing with it. But what I wanted them to say is what they end up seeing. They would never do a black show to compete. They already had a top black show. And that's the truth out of Atlanta. That's the way they looked at it. And so I just pretty much said, Okay, well if they don't do it, somebody else will. It got better and better, you know. I kept pitching to True Entertainment, Lauren Esculen, everybody you know, and it got better and better, and they eventually saw either we're going to work with them, or they're gonna be a Helifi, you know, competitor. So I pitched for years. I did for like three four years, came up with the treatment. I did several I don't know how many video just I pitched it made it better and better and better, put my own money behind it, just got with different production companies. I did, it got picked up by TC Lifetime loved it and decided to go with the production company I went with because they had the relationship with Bravo and I knew the Bravo could reach the households and the audience that I felt like we needed to reach. So once I started getting the offers from you know, Real Housewives Atlanta, to be honest, that's when they to me. The tone change, you know, it was almost kind of like, come here, you know, do this instead of doing that. And so that's what kind of you know, the more money. I love, y'all, and I wanted to be on there, but I just felt like I needed to stick with my own things.

00:13:47
Speaker 2: Stay tuned for more of my conversation with Mariah huck We'll be right back after this quick break. This is Reality Team with the King and I'm Carlos King. Let's get back into my conversation with Mariah. What was it like when you realize Married to Medicine, a show you created, was a hit. But when we look at the credits, I don't see executive producer under Mariah's name.

00:14:23
Speaker 1: You know what? It hit me a little different the first season, you know, is when I was only like an associate producer on there. It hit me real different because you have to think, you know, with my story, the whole reason why my whole purpose was to see my name and to create a legacy and to see the credits meant everything to me. They really truly did, because it's like a man loving you in the dark, but you don't want to bring you out in public. Like I had done everything, you know, I had created the show, cast every one of the people on there, So for me, I knew how hard I had worked. It was really tough, and that's when I was like, hold up, wait a minute, and then took a step back, had to regroup and figure out the best way of approaching it without burning bridges and taken away from what I had worked to build, because I think sometimes people do things to evoke emotion so that you cross yourself out. So I took a step back. It was really hard though, when I saw all the work I had put into it, everything you know, and initially didn't seem because that meant everything to me, and I think sometimes they people don't, They minimize it and it comes so hard. As a minority, nobody gives you anything, so like for me, it was just a whole different level of disrespect, honestly, because I felt like I had worked hard, and people love to say, well, you didn't negotiate this, you No, it don't work like this is a different type of industry. Corporations kind of bully their way and do whatever they want to do. So I feel like I had done everything right. To be honest with you, We've always crossed our t's and dotted our eyes had greatly, so I was really you know, I was just it was a lot. It was a lot, nonetheless. But the one thing I tell you I did right it was being on the show, because initially I wasn't going to be on the show. The first time I shot Married to Medicine, I wasn't on it, and everybody said, well, your doctor's wife, why wouldn't you be on it? But see, I thought I would be biased, so I wasn't on it.

00:16:22
Speaker 2: I can't imagine that show without you. How do you feel when people say the show changed the moment you felt that Quad was becoming the star of the show and you underestimated her star power.

00:16:39
Speaker 1: You know, I think that's probably one of the most insulting things. You have to keep in mind. Quad was my best friend, Like I saw something in her and I wanted to share the stage with all of them, but especially her. I was able to share my dream because that's what it was with each and every one of those women. I wanted us all to build something together, and I felt like we could together. So I think that is probably one of the most hurtful things, to be honest, because that was never it. They looked at us like that. They didn't think it was enough room for two stars.

00:17:13
Speaker 2: When you say they, you mean the production company.

00:17:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe the production company. Maybe that was their opinion and their narrative, but that was never the way I looked at quiet for any of those ladies. I never did. I didn't think we would take away from each other. I honestly thought it would change every season, because it does depending on what you're going through, you know what I mean. Everybody is going to break out at some point and be a breakout star or a breakout center of attention, you know what I mean. It's just something. But I just felt like it would be something that would evolve and change, So I never thought that I was going to be the star whole time. I just didn't think that. That's why it's an ensemble cast.

00:17:51
Speaker 2: So when people say that you treated the show like it was yours and that these women worked for you and that they were on your show, what do you say to that. A lot of rumors were Mariah think it's her show. She says, it's her show, we work for her.

00:18:06
Speaker 1: I never treated them like that, you know what. I didn't feel that i'd done that. I felt like I always shared it. I think if I had to do it all over, I've learned a lot of things, but the one thing I did well was calling myself to Queen Bee. It was never about those ladies. Those were not my counterpart. And that's the thing that people don't get. The first season, like you said, my name was not in writing as creator or executive producer. So I was sending a message and people start asking the right questions. It's only so much you can say it was never about the women, that they worked for me, but this is my shit. This is I mean, just keeping it real, like you created something big and I saw what was happening. Had I not said that, I would not have been on season two or season three on my own show. It changed the narrative change once people realized, oh, hold on a minute, this is her practice.

00:19:03
Speaker 2: When did you start getting your just due as the executive producer on the show? In terms of the credit, what season was that?

00:19:09
Speaker 1: Season two? I was co EP, and then season three I was creator executive producer, And for the lifetime of the franchise, she's always executive producer on all the shows. So it's been a fight, but hey, you know it's God is good. What God has for you is for you. Season three, I was only COEP. I didn't get my created by credits until season four.

00:19:33
Speaker 2: Did your executive producer credit change the dynamic that you have with the cast because they saw it.

00:19:40
Speaker 1: I want to say it didn't, but it did in the sense of it created more division, like even though they knew, they knew from the beginning how hard I work like I did cast and calls. I think once it was acknowledged by the production company the network, it was almost like they saw me as the enemy, like she's one of them, when I always we were the same. This was our story, this was my story, their story I was telling. So yes, it changed but not in the way I had thought like I have been. You know, they knew the truth the whole time, but it was kind of almost like it created more separation or I don't know it was. It was weird. So I do think it changed it, but not in the way that I probably had hope.

00:20:22
Speaker 2: Did it change your relationship with the producers?

00:20:25
Speaker 1: Yes, but I didn't see it then. Their intentions were always the same from day one. I just didn't know it. I didn't know it, and so yes it did. I think they always looked at me a certain way, but it's like what you say, you know what, They don't have to think it's smarter or they don't. They may not see you coming, may be the sleeper, but they knew then that me telling my story was going to be powerful. Probably didn't bank on it going the way it did, but it wentn't. I think what God has for yous for you, I stand by that. I really truly do and mean it. I'm a true testament of that.

00:21:01
Speaker 2: Were you phased out of your own show?

00:21:04
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I didn't see it, And it's like, but the reason why I'm not mad or bitter about it is because I still feel like I came out on top. God had my back the whole time, and I felt like it was people don't get I lasted eight season. They was trying to do this shit to season one. I just didn't. I mean, at the end of cy like they pull you up to bring you down. I didn't realize that season two they didn't bank on me coming back.

00:21:31
Speaker 2: They didn't.

00:21:33
Speaker 1: Not at all. I don't know what they thought. She was gonna go hide under a rock, but they really didn't know. Yeah, they didn't. And I learned that later on hindsight is always twenty twenty.

00:21:45
Speaker 2: It makes me so sad because for a woman to create a show, cast the show, star on the show, and then to see how you were allegedly phase out of your own show because we the viewers saw like why Mariah doesn't have that many scenes this season, or why doesn't Mariah have any interviews. It was this weird thing that was going on. And then now we don't see you on the show at all. So were you fired from your own show?

00:22:17
Speaker 1: No, my contract ran out. I had a producer contract and I had a cast contract. I focused so much on the producer side that the cast side I felt like would kind of work itself out, I'm and be honest, I did. I cared more about the ownership and the producer side of it or whatever, because I felt like it, you know, I felt like the audience was to who they wanted on there. And I think that's why I lasted so long, is that people, you know, they didn't bank on me having an audience and people to actually want to see me. So yes, I do feel like they somewhat well. They did phased me out or didn't want me the or didn't renew my contract, but I think that it was for the best because I think being on the show almost took away from it being a I never thought that. I thought. I think, as a woman, the minority woman, I should be able to wear multiple hats. But they almost people put you in silos and want you to choose. I mean, you don't see what I don't see it what the guy producers, But with the women, I feel like we have to choose, which role do you want? And that's kind of how I felt with being a creator EP, and especially when it became a franchise. It just it was like, hold on a minute. People don't want you to have too much power. You know, or influence you know. And I think that's what a lot of it was.

00:23:36
Speaker 2: That makes me sad to hear, because, you know, listen, as a black man in this business, I'm all about representation, and I know firsthand how hard you work to get that show on the air and what you don't know. And I never shared this with anybody, not even you. I remember being like, well, damn bitch, can you pitch me Marit to Medicine. I remember when I first heard through our friend just saying that, yeah, Mariah sold the show about doctor wives and wives of doctors. I was like, damn bitch, that's something I would have done, Like it was such a genius idea. And I remember being like, oh my gosh, I would have love to work on that show. People ask me all the time, like Carlos King, if you could produce any show on the world besides the ones you've done, what would it be? And I will always say The Braxtons and Married to Medicine because those two are my favorite shows of all time that I did not produce. Married to Medicine is so underrated. Still, do you always feel like that show was in the shadows of Atlanta Housewives.

00:24:41
Speaker 1: Absolutely, it will always be the Stepchat of Bravo, and I knew that. I saw that, and I get it because it is is what kind of what they said. They never really wanted it to compete, and I think that, honestly, there's no competition because Housewives of Atlanta just really came through. I mean they came through like a wrecking ball, and it's amazing. They open up the doors. So there could be a merrit To Medicine.

00:25:07
Speaker 2: Amen.

00:25:08
Speaker 1: But absolutely it will always be in the shadows on the network on Bravo, I think so. But I think that I think the Merit To Medicine has rightfully on its own proven it's placed that it deserves to be on TV, and that is it can stand on its own, you know. So I think that's the good part. But it will always be in the shadows.

00:25:28
Speaker 2: Yeah. And I remember talking to Doctor Heavenly. I told Doctor Heavenly, Merit To Medicine is a fantastic show because all of you guys work well together on that show. It's a true ensemble. And what I don't want y'all to do is to remove anybody from the show because it'll mess things up. And I said I know there's some issues with Mariah because I hear things I said. At the end of the day, Mariah is married to medicine. Quad is merit to medicine. Like I'm going to give put people their props. I said to her, whatever you do, if y'all remove Mariah from that show, is not going to be the same. And I'm going to go on record saying this, it hasn't been the same to me. You're missed on that show and that show needs you.

00:26:17
Speaker 1: Well, that's because you have a I think you have an honest eye, and I think at the end of the day, when you love something, you want to see it work and see it last, and you take your personal feelings out of it. Initially, you have to think first season, Heavenly was not cast on the show. I went too back. I said, listen, we're putting her on. She has to be on season two. But I knew that she would be a wild card, and I knew she had something to bring to the show. And so you have to still stand your ground and say what's good at the end of the day, what's going to be good for the show. So it's good that you were able to see that I felt like that. I felt like if it would have made sense for me to go off or I had they so trying to. I wasn't having fall outs with all, it just was nothing. Everybody had fallouts when you're in a group, you know, it's ensemble, it's a group of women. So I think that that's when things get scary, is when it's not for the good of the show, when you're no longer thinking about the show. And I felt like with me doing with me not being on there, I didn't want to be in a place that I didn't I wasn't wanting I want to be where I'm love and supported, you know, I didn't want to be in a place where I'm tolerated. If it in my position caused that much conflict, then it probably wasn't a good fit anymore, because it's not fun anymore. Like I like to be real, fun, funny, have a good time, turn up. I don't want to always have to show up just knowing it's about to come against it. I don't want to always have to feel, you know, like you're going to go in and be defensive.

00:27:46
Speaker 2: Because season six was the best season.

00:27:50
Speaker 1: Ooh waitmen? Which season Season six.

00:27:52
Speaker 2: Season six was about doctor Jackie's man stepping out right. We saw the shots of him at the air with somebody. It was the destruction of Greg and Quad.

00:28:05
Speaker 1: That was the season I hated the most, really hated it. I felt, you know, why tell me because the reason why I created this show, even though we have problems in our marriages, I did not want to show the demise of the marriages. At one time I thought it was too much. Season six for me, was too heavy and got a little dark.

00:28:29
Speaker 2: Now I'm gonna save this to you. As a viewer and a fan of the show, I thought it was so real. It was it was. It was because the thing about it was this The most beautiful moment in the history of that show to me, was when all of y'all rallied to Simone and said, save this marriage. All of y'all said, this marriage can can be saved. What Greg, what doctor g and Quad is going through can't be saved, but we can save this because WHI y'all going through ain't that deep. And I saw all of you women rally for like to save that relationship, and to me, what you created, Mariah is a show that really details what it's like to be a career woman who's married to a man that wants her at home more. But it also showed how women who are involved in the subculture of society, no matter what they go through, they can support each other. And that's what I missed about the show, honestly, and I said this publicly, I miss you and Quad. Y'all were Ninnie and Kim, Giselle and Robin. I missed. I missed that. I miss y'all friendship. Do you miss her as much as I miss y'all?

00:29:39
Speaker 1: I think initially I probably did, but I think we just grew up. I felt like I'm gonna be honest with I feel like I remained the same I think the TV and it just does something different to people. So I don't now and that's not the same. I wish her well, like I love pret like I love us as a duo, as a friend, as a producer. I didn't think it made sense. They blew it out. A lot of it just became I still was being careful, but what I said so, I initially I did, but eventually I just thought that she had became, you know, evolved into something else.

00:30:16
Speaker 2: When you see Quad, now, is that the best friend that you met over ten years ago.

00:30:21
Speaker 1: I don't see her. We don't hang the same place, we don't go, we don't do the same things. I mean, I don't really see her, to be honest with you, and that's no shade or anything. I just we don't. On the show, I thought like, wow, I just never because honestly, I really wanted us to do it. It was always supposed to be a duo. It was always meant to be a duo and for us to watch each other's back because I knew it was a doggy dog business.

00:30:46
Speaker 2: Are you sad that when all of this was going on on the show that these women who you gave a platform to, that some of them did not have your back and support you.

00:30:57
Speaker 1: No, no, no, Let me be honest. Is devastated. Initially, I was devastated. I'm not a victim. I feel like I'm victorious. I think that it was part of my test to be a part of my testimony. Though God was doing something in my life, this was my vision. Nobody can take that away. It put them in a compromising position. Would I have done what they've done. Absolutely not. I would have stood up for each and I can't be bought, so anybody knows me. I'm big on integrity, so yes, I expected at least one or two of them to maybe do something different. But at the end of the day, I'm not mad. I'm not bitter. I was initially, but so many other things happened in the world that I just couldn't even you know, I just really couldn't even give it my energy. I felt like what God has for me was for me, and I think he wanted me to just rely on him and have faith in him. I really do. I think it was more about my story than them. I do.

00:31:56
Speaker 2: You know what is so interesting? I am watching right before my eyes a woman who has grown into who she's meant to be. I appreciate your honesty in terms of you recognizing that I was a woman who may have been better or devastated or hurt. And sometimes when we're like that, hurt people hurt others. Who you are right now is you've done the work to let that chapter of your life go. And I don't know if I could have been as strong as you, because I create shows for a living and I would be sad if something happened to where I'm not on a show. I create it. But I see this strength in you that impresses me because you seem to just be in a very different space. How did you get yourself out of that?

00:32:44
Speaker 1: Let me tell you, and I'm gonna be perfectly honest with you. It was life. Initially I thought, like you, like, how could this happen? I can't believe this. I did everything right, I thought I did. Like, not that I was perfect, because I made a lot of mistakes along the way, but I thought from a professional standpoint, I had covered my track. But what happened to me was life. I got sick after that. I saw the world falling apart. I seen black men, our sons, my husbands, you know, people that looked like my father dying right in front of my eye. Like I just saw that. It was so much more, bigger, even than married to medicine. One of the things that made it a little bit easier for me is what we said earlier. It was knowing my worth. And when I came into this business, my life was exactly kind of like it is now, same car, same house, Like it really truly was the same. So I knew what I was meant to do. I knew who I was. My friendships didn't really change with any of those women. I was the same the entire time, still is. I'm still the same, but other people changed. I didn't. I'm the same person, grown, but I'm the same. The stuff didn't, or the fame, but none of that changed me. And to be honest, for me, the true testament of my strength was not what I said, but what I did not say. I wasn't gagged or anything like that. I chose, you know, strength and silence and you know, and I just chose to trust God and it. So it's not that I was old, happygo jolly, you know. It broke me down all the way down. I mean it did physically. I lost like it was a lot. It was a lot. I had health issues out. It really broke me down. It was a lot. So just being honest, like what you see today, what it was just strength and I think just honestly growth and that evolution. It just really truly was I just have so much more. I know, it's so much more in store. It was just a stepping stone.

00:34:43
Speaker 2: I work with a lot of former reality stars who have their own story, and I'm not here to debunk anyone's story. That's I'll always tell people, I don't walk in your shoes. So because I may have been around you, I don't know your experience, just because we know each other, I do not know what it feels like to be a reality star on a big show. I don't know what that feels like. So when people used to say about you, like, oh my god, she's she's going to like follow lawsuits and all this stuff, it never materialized. Did you ever think about it or did you just figure out I'm gonna do my thing the way it's supposed to and let God handle the rest.

00:35:22
Speaker 1: Certain things didn't materialize because it didn't have to. It worked itself out, and I know, I know God worked it out. But you know when they say they make your enemy your food, when say make your enemy your food store, they'll come to you. So things were tied up and worked out in a beautiful way, you know. It just it kind of happened like that. That was a blessing, but it was still hard or whatever. So I may not have physically fouled a lawsuit, but it's not to say I wasn't on that track, be very very clear, you know, And that's just being honest, because you do have to do certain things in order to garner the reaction you need, especially when you know you're in the right position. But you know, it was tough, but everything's side up, everything's good and it's no bad blood.

00:36:10
Speaker 2: Do you still keep in touch with any of the current cast members, Toya, I.

00:36:14
Speaker 1: Haven't talked to anybody at all, just and I was shocked about that initially, you know, I was you know, I would talk and reach out, but I think with a lot of things that were going on, to their defense, I think it was a situation where it's kind of like, don't talk, don't do you know, like this is going on, like it was bigger. You know, it may not have been lost, but it was still the legalities of everything. So I think that that did complicate the relationships. That's still their job, and I was respectful. I don't want to put anybody in a situation. I didn't want anybody to feel uncomfortable.

00:36:49
Speaker 2: You know, we and I'm speaking for the reality fans, we do miss you on TV, like we want you back on television. Would you I've ever turned to reality TV? Sis.

00:37:02
Speaker 1: The break I had was amazing and I needed it I will never say never, but I just I don't have the desire. I want to do something big. I don't mind doing unscripted, but the unsemble scares me because, and let me tell you why, because people do anything on the way up and on the way down. So when you I mean when you're comfortable, you need to be just that. And I'm very comfortable. So it scares me about what other people will do, you know, with it. But I never say never, because you know who knows the next ship.

00:37:38
Speaker 2: I love Ariah. That was such a fun conversation with her, but it was also very meaningful because look, that's a black woman who created one of the most epic reality shows in history. Marriti Medicine is such a good show. And the fact that it happened because she decided to turn down being a p heach told her to live out her destiny. I am so sad to see her not be on the show anymore, but I have to say I'm happy that she found the piece within herself. And it is truly within my hope and heart of hearts that she is able to find her way back on television because I know what y'all thinking, get her own loving marriage Atlanta. I really hope y'all enjoy that. I love you, Mariah. If you're listening, we must do it again. Girl thoughts opinions reads about my conversation with Mariah. Email me at Reality with the King at stitri dot com or leave me a voicemail at three one oh five ninety three eight one eight eight. Thank you for listening to Reality with the King, Share, comment, follow and subscribe to Reality with the King. Wherever you get your podcast, visit Reality with the King dot com and be sure to follow me at the Carlos King Underscore on Instagram and Twitter. Tweak me your thoughts and hot takes about this episode using the hashtag Reality with the King. Reality with the King is a production of More Sauce by Stitcher. It is executive produced by Me, Carlos King, and Jasmine Henley Brown. We are also produced by Sierra s Bradley Rix, engineering and music by Marcus Ham More Sauce