Did you know that Real Housewives of Potomac's Gizelle Bryant was married to megachurch pastor Jamal Bryant?
Gizelle Bryant, 45, is already the standout star of Bravo's latest entry in the Housewife franchise. And now she’s talking about ending her marriage after she discovered her husband cheated
She is already being billed as the sassy, standout star of new hit show The Real Housewives of Potomac.
But Gizelle Bryant has already been at the center of a marital drama every bit as salacious and sensational as some of the more memorable episodes in Real Housewives' history.
In the coming weeks viewers will watch as single mom Gizelle, 45, juggles a makeup business, charity work and a bustling social calendar as she raises three daughters in one of the country's most exclusive suburbs.
But they probably won't be privy to the full story of how her marriage to a prominent megachurch pastor crumbled around her amid lurid allegations of his extramarital affairs and illegitimate children.
Networker supreme Gizelle is one of six African American women who make up the cast of the latest Real Housewives installment, set in the wealthy Maryland enclave of Potomac, just outside Washington, D.C.
The glamorous former model is newly single and 'ready to flaunt that independence and make a name for herself,' according to a teaser on the Bravo website.
Gizelle's fresh start comes after her split from flash televangelist Jamal Bryant, 44, the founder of the Empowerment Temple AME Church in Baltimore, who last year briefly ran for Congress and delivered a eulogy at the funeral of Freddie Gray.
The pair enjoyed seven years of 'marital bliss' and have three children together - Grace, now aged 11, and twins Angel and Adore, both nine. But in an exclusive interview with Daily Mail Online, Gizelle says she had no hesitation in pulling the plug on her fairy tale marriage after it emerged her husband was cheating on her.
'There was infidelity. I found out about it and he told me about it,' she said. 'I decided I was not going to continue to stay in a relationship in which there was not a major commitment.
'I'm an old-fashioned girl and if you're going to commit, commit. But at this point in time it's so water under the bridge.'
'It was absolutely the worst of times. It was lonely and isolating.'
Gizelle grew up in D.C. and her father Curtis Graves served as a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1967 to 1973 and was a high-ranking official at NASA for three decades.
One of three siblings, she graduated from prestigious Hampton University, a private historically black university located in Hampton, Virginia, in 1992 with a marketing degree before joining the NAACP as an events planner.
It was there that she met and began dating her future husband Jamal, a pastor's son, motivational speaker and rising star on the evangelical circuit. The pair were wed in 2002. He acknowledged a second daughter in 2007 after the girl's mother, Michelle Wedderburn, took the sharp-suited pastor to court to argue that he wasn't paying enough in child support.
Rev. Bryant openly denied a rumor printed in Ebony magazine as well as various online forums and gossip sites that was involved with a third woman, a 17-year-old female from his congregation who he had supposedly impregnated.
He would later insist it was 'categorically and completely untrue' in an open letter to Ebony magazine, who published the accusation in a March 2013 article on African-American scandals. Ebony later conceded that it was nothing more than an 'outrageous rumor'.
Amid a swirl of negative speculation, both Gizelle and her husband filed for divorce in early 2008, with Gizelle stating that she was an unemployed mother while her husband earned more than $350,000 a year.
In a January 9 petition she accused him of committing adultery, saying she had 'neither forgiven or condoned' his behavior and demanded a share of their assets and property along with custody of their children.
The petition was later withdrawn but Gizelle insists the pair did finalize their divorce in 2009 and says she has never reconciled with her philandering husband despite the pair remaining on surprisingly good terms.
'It was absolutely the worst of times,' added Gizelle. 'It was lonely and isolating, however I do have a strong support network of family and friends. I just leaned on them at that time.
'I'm not one to dwell on anything because I feel like we only have one shot at this thing called life. Life is too short to just be in a bad or a bitter place.
'So I moved on. He moved on. He's been doing some great things professionally. We were best friends when we got married and he and I are back at that place.
'We know that our kids are our number one priority and we make it work for them. We're doing a great job of co-parenting.'
The ladies are joining a long list of famous residents that has included Sylvester Stallone, Sugar Ray Leonard, NBA legend Patrick Ewing and news anchor Wolf Blitzer.
'Myself and the rest of cast, we weren't living in LA wanting to be famous or wanting to be on the screen,' added Gizelle.
'We were literally living our lives, minding our business and then this opportunity came.
'So the authenticity that you see with me and the rest of my castmates is just that, we are strong confident women. We are not hungry for fame - nothing about his show is manufactured.'
The Real Housewives of Potomac is on Sunday nights at 9PM on Bravo!
The Real Housewives of Potomac is on Sunday nights at 9PM on Bravo!
No comments:
Post a Comment