Porsha Williams isn’t holding back by sharing the good, bad, and ugly in her new memoir The Pursuit of Porsha. The former Real Housewives of Atlanta star gets candid about her romantic relationships, much of them were filled with abuse. Now, the newly engaged Bravo star says she’s learned her lesson, all while reflecting on the tough times, including a brief relationship with disgraced R&B singer, R. Kelly.
Porsha Williams promises her and Simon Guobadia’s relationship will be monogamous
On the debut episode of Porsha’s Family Matters, Williams and Guobadia talk about their expectations of their relationship. When the idea of monogamy came about, Guobadia explained that he did not grow up with that concept. In fact, he admitted his father had two wives, who were close friends. His grandfather had dozens of wives and early 60 grandchildren. But Williams responded that a polygamous lifestyle wouldn’t work for her.
In a recent interview with Tamron Hall, Williams explained more about Guobadia’s background. “Let’s start with, he’s Nigerian. That’s his culture. It’s just called Nigerian culture. They are allowed and are open to having multiple wives. Some have two [wives], his father had two, his grandfather had 25 and 60-something grandkids. But you know, Simon has been in America since he was about 17 years old and I’m American, so we’re gonna have one wife and one husband,” she said.
The author talks about her past with R. Kelly
One of the things Williams digs deep into is her troubled relationship patterns. She went from one bad relationship to the next and by the age of 25, she was in a twisted entanglement with R. Kelly.
The reality star says she met him at a vulnerable time and detailed witnessing and experiencing abuse at his hands. She told Hall that it was important for her to share the story to really allow readers to identify her attraction to men who were not good for her.
“You know, putting R. Kelly’s name in the book, because some people I named, some people I didn’t name, and putting his name in the book is just putting a name to another face that I had already encountered before,” she said. “He had just been one of the men who was a predator in my life, who had taken advantage of me and mentally abused me in my life. So I saw him no different than those same men. That same darkness, the same treatment, they faced and met the same Porsha who didn’t know her self worth.”
She also says that it’s pivotal for readers to understand that regardless of one’s success, anyone can fall victim to such treatment. “I didn’t love myself. I didn’t see who I was in those situations. You know, I was a grown woman. I had a penthouse in Buckhead, I had my own business. I wasn’t your usual so-called victim. But because as a young woman, I did not value who I was, that’s how I got myself into those situations,” she added.