For the first time since Kenya Moore and her estranged husband, Marc Daly announced their plans to divorce separately, “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” star is getting candid.
The TV personality and her New York restaurateur spouse issued their own statements a little over a month ago revealing they planned to get a divorce.
Related: Who Is Marc Daly?
But Moore now tells People magazine that the couple has yet to file for legal separation. The “RHOA” star is hoping she and Daly, who share 11-month-old daughter Brooklyn Doris Daly, can work through their marital woes.
“I didn’t get married to quit,” said Moore, who is readying her return to “RHOA” when season 12 premieres Nov. 3. “I love my husband. I don’t doubt that he loves me. Let me be clear, I took my vows seriously. I believe in for better and for worse and I believe in trying it all before you walk away, especially when we do have a child and we are a family.
“I am hopeful, and have always wanted to work on our relationship. But I just don’t know if that’s even a possibility at this point, honestly,” Moore adds. “Marc doesn’t seem to be there. I’d feel more comfortable calling it quits if I knew I’d tried everything and it still didn’t work. And we definitely didn’t do everything we could have done to save our relationship.”
As a way to do all that they can to save their union, Moore said she has tried to get her estranged spouse to attend counseling sessions. But according to her, Daly, who will soon have a total of three businesses in New York City, has not agreed to it.
“If the communication were better and more open and honest, I think we could solve our problems,” she said, noting that despite her reality TV persona, she’s “not a fighter” at home. “Counseling could be a big proponent in flushing out issues a couple may have. … I never got that opportunity. I’m not saying that opportunity may not exist in the future. But I just don’t have a complete sense of if that’s something that he’s still willing to do.”
Moore and Daly’s split stunned fans who believed, like Moore herself, that she’d finally found her happily ever after following her 2017 elopement with Daly in St. Lucia.
“It is with profound sadness that I regret to inform my fans that I am divorcing my husband Marc Daly,” Moore said in part in her September statement. “Due to recent and ongoing circumstances, I can no longer continue in the marriage.”
Daly, who has not responded to Moore’s current comments, said in his statement that he had “come to the difficult decision to separate from Kenya at this time.” The pair’s announcement came just days after they put up a united front on “The Tamron Hall” show. There, Moore touted Daly as “the love of her life.”
While putting rumors of cheating and a supposed secret family Daly has to rest, Moore said to the celebrity magazine she acknowledges how much of a head-spinning moment it must be for fans to see her and Daly, whom Moore says she hasn’t seen since they called it quits.
“I think a lot of people were rooting for me, rooting for us, and rooting for our beautiful family,” she said. “So for something to come out of the blue, I know it really hurt and confused a lot of people who were on our side.”
Moore’s and Daly’s falling-out — from Daly’s exclamation that his estranged wife “can take everything” to Moore admitting she’s “at a really low place” — will play out on the new season of “RHOA.”
