Kandi Burruss‘ husband Todd Tucker and the general manager for Kandi Koated Entertainment DonJuan Clark threw Burruss a surprise birthday party on Sunday, May 17. In true safety-conscious fashion, she celebrated her milestone year with a “Mask On” bash. Burruss, a reality star of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” turned 44 years old on her special day. Some fans disapproved of the gathering, claiming that Burruss and her friends were breaking the social distancing guidelines.
The former “Xscape” member addressed the backlash in a now-deleted Instagram Live chat with comedian Loni Love. On Sunday, May 24, Burruss explained the concept behind her event. “Well, here’s the thing: I didn’t even plan the party. It was a surprise party. And I know that my husband’s intentions were good. That’s why it was called ‘Mask On.’ Everyone was supposed to keep their masks on,” she said.
Burruss suggested that her party was worth the cost of not social distancing. “I hadn’t seen my family and friends in so long I had got overly excited and I was hugging everybody. And I know everybody was mad like, ‘You’re not social distancing.’ And I was like, ‘I have not seen them in forever, OK?’” she added. The Old Lady Gang restaurant owner recounted how her friends were also happy to see her, sharing that everyone was ecstatic to get out of the house.
What some fans might not know is that Burruss knew that she did not have the coronavirus prior to her party. “I know everybody has their opinions, and don’t get me wrong, I went and got myself tested. I did the COVID test Monday, after my birthday. And I also did the antibodies test the week before. So I already knew I’d never had it. Now can I say that about everybody there? I don’t know. I pray that they did,” she concluded.
Burruss posted behind-the-scene footage of her event on Kandi Online, her YouTube Channel. In the clip, Burruss’ friends were drinking and dancing. Stars like Tamar Braxton, Kelly Rowland, Cynthia Bailey, and Tami Roman were not able to attend the bash since they currently reside in California. However, they each sent her a recorded birthday message. Many fans described how they admired the digital birthday wishes, saying they got emotional after watching the clips.
“Those birthday wishes from your friends was nice and heartwarming <3 Especially Tamar’s I love her <3.”
“Aww omg why am I crying watching all these people say beautiful things about my girl! ❤️💜❤️💘.”
“Awesome! Beautiful messages.”
“You deserve it Kandi!!! 🥳🥳🥳.”
“This really made my heart smile.”
Burruss had quite a bit to celebrate this month. In addition to her birthday, she also made history as the first female artist to win “The Masked Singer” as season 3 concluded on Wednesday, May 20.
