Todd Tucker detailed his “dark” and lonely divorce from “Real Housewives of Atlanta” alum Kandi Burruss in a candid interview with Page Six.
“I’m gonna be honest, when we separated, I stayed in the guesthouse, which is just me in this big house by myself. My kids and the family are next door, and it was a lot of alone time,” Tucker, 53, exclusively shared with us.
“It was a lot of time in my head, thinking, trying to figure out, ‘What did I just do? What just happened? Did I lose my family?’ So I’m gonna be honest, I had nobody really to lean on.”
The entertainment producer reiterated to us a heartbreaking confession he made in his forthcoming docuseries, “Til Divorce Do Us Part,” lamenting that he “looked at [his] gun” during some especially painful moments.
“But then I snapped out of it, like, ‘No, you have a family. You have kids that you have to see them through,’” Tucker recalled.
He and Burruss, 50, are parents to a total of four children; they share son Ace, 10, and daughter Blaze, 6, and each have an adult daughter — Kaela Tucker, 30, and Riley Burruss, 24 — from previous relationships.
“It was a lot of dark times, but since then, I’ve been going to church, I’m about to find me a therapist and just take this journey of rebuilding myself, getting myself where I wanna be and being the best dad and the best co-parent and moving forward,” Todd told us.
Previews for “Til Divorce Do Us Part” — which Todd described as his version of Kandi’s recent “I Do. I Did. I’m Done.” tour — show him having deep conversations with some of his male friends, many of whom appeared or still appear on “RHOA.”
He told us creating and starring in the docuseries was “very emotional,” but he felt it was “important” for him as a man to “get it out” and “tell [his] side of the story.”
“I think we [men] carry a lot of stress, we carry a lot inside, and sometimes, it’s too late, you know? It’s a stroke, or he’s got cancer because he’s been holding it [in],” Todd explained.
“So I want guys to know, man, just get it out, speak to a therapist, however you got to get it out. Don’t try to bash anybody, don’t try and make anybody look bad, but just get it off your chest.”
He also feels he has a right to share his feelings in such a public way because his ex-wife has done the same.
“I’ve been labeled everything in the book for over a decade on ‘Housewives.’ And I’ve never really spoken, and I just wanna be heard. And after that, I’ll go fade into the darkness, and you won’t hear nothing again.
“And I’ll just do my movies and, you know, still do my projects, but I won’t be talking,” vowed Todd, who will be hosting a double feature premiere of his docuseries and new film, “Don’t Bring Your Man to Atlanta,” next month during an AMC Theaters weekend takeover.
The TTucker Productions founder — who famously quit his job as a “RHOA” producer so he could date Kandi without conflict — is also admittedly confused by her outrage over one specific moment that was highlighted in the first “Til Divorce Do Us Part” trailer.
“Is the threesome s–t for real for real?” “RHOA” alum Cynthia Bailey’s ex-husband Peter Thomas asked Todd, who replied, “We did, we did. I would say [for] most of our marriage, we did.”
Kandi subsequently blasted Todd for “choosing to sensationalize [their] sex life to stretch his five minutes of fame,” arguing, “What consensually happens between a husband and wife in the privacy of their marriage is exactly that: private.”
But Todd pushed back on that defense, noting that the Grammy-winning musician-turned-Bravolebrity often spoke about their adventures as a couple throughout her 14 seasons on “RHOA.” Kandi disclosed similar information on her adult-themed talk show, “Kandi Koated Nights,” and even launched a sex toy line: Bedroom Kandi.
“I gotta ask you a question: Do we have a private marital sex life?” Todd asked us rhetorically when the topic came up.
“And this is not even from me. Like, you’ve heard it from her. So how private is it? Even when she first started saying that we had done a threesome or done threesomes, she didn’t consult with me. And for the most part, I’m a good sport, so I never made a problem of it or an issue of it.”
He claimed Thomas’ question arose from Kandi’s own confessions.
“So at the end of the day, I’m not throwing out there any new information,” Todd insisted. “I’m not out there doing a tell-all or naming any people or doing anything like that. It was just a conversation, and that’s really all it was.”
As for why Kandi pulled the plug on their 11-year marriage, Todd admitted vaguely that there was one particular “incident” involving another woman, which he will elaborate on in the docuseries.
“A lot of our friends were like, ‘Buy her flowers, buy her flowers.’ But I was like, ‘Hey, this is bigger than flowers.’ So I set up for us to go to therapy ’cause this was beyond buying flowers. ‘Cause if I buy flowers and she’s happy and we’re cool, I’m still not 100%, you know what I’m saying?” Todd said.
“So I wanted to deal with the overall relationship issues, and I think looking back, she wanted me to fix where she was at in the moment before she could fix the bigger part of the relationship issues, if that makes sense. So I just think when I saw she wasn’t willing to fight with me, I just thought that it’s probably best for me to just kind of bow out. If she wants a divorce, give her the divorce.”
But Todd, who told us repeatedly that he misses his family, added, “I made vows to be with her forever, and I would have stayed forever.”
However, he accepts Kandi’s decision and acknowledged that “sometimes, things aren’t meant forever.” And even though they’ve experienced rocky moments amid their very public split, Todd made sure to stress, “We’re always fine with each other. There’s never any tension or anything. Even though we may be pissed off or mad or feeling a way, we put it to the side for our kids.”
Though Todd doesn’t necessarily blame reality TV for the demise of his marriage, he does feel it “played a part.”
He also believes he “allowed a lot of disrespect” from Kandi’s historically critical mom, “Mama Joyce” Jones, and said he feels a weight has been “lifted off [his] shoulders” now that she’s no longer an active part of his life.
“I was trying to prove myself to somebody who didn’t like me, and I never stopped,” he told us. “And I’ve never stopped caring about her seeing my kids and making sure [they know], ‘That’s your grandma. Make sure you call her.’”
As for whether he’s currently dating, Todd explained he “need[s] some time to get [himself] together” before he can be “ready to be a good man for somebody” else.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, contact the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988.
