Candiace Dillard Bassett is in the hot seat after a resurfaced clip circulating online features “The Real Housewives of Potomac” star, who is married to Chris Bassett, a white man, admitting that she fears having light-skinned children. Bassett has now weighed in on the social media chatter, but it’s unclear if he’s made matters worse.
The 37-year-old appeared on the “Don’t Call Me White Girl” podcast with host Mona Love back in January and admitted to fearing that her children would be light-skinned during an in-depth conversation about colorism.
Love is light-skinned, and noted that “RHOP” was deemed “the light-skinned girl show” when it premiered in 2016.
(4:25)“‘Real Housewives of Potomac,’ yo, when Potomac first came out, they had deemed it like ‘the light-skinned girl show’ right, and it was so like frustrating for me because it was like, I like the show for so many other reasons than that. They all happen to be light-skinned,” said Love. “I’m not even going to go there because I don’t know if you know, but light-skinned women cannot speak about things like that.”
Love expressed that colorism is a widespread issue across many different communities, not just the Black community. However, she understands her place as a light-skinned woman and that it’s not right to invalidate the feelings of women with darker skin.
Love went on to note that problematic things have been said about her skin as well, revealing that she has been called “white girl, Michelin man, white bobble-head, Casper white, white girl, fat white girl, Betty Sue, fat mama cheeseburger, and snow monkey” as recent as a few months ago.
Later in the conversation, Dillard’s interracial marriage became a topic of discussion, to which the “RHOP” star revealed her fear of not having brown-skinned babies while married to a white man.
Dillard started off the conversation by encouraging Love to expand her horizons in terms of the type of men she dates. “Could be white, could be Indian,” Dillard said, while admitting that Chris Bassett was one of the first white men she dated.
“One thing I will say, I do have a fear of having light-skinned children. I want my kids to be brown, but they’re probably not gonna be brown, and I’m like becoming okay with it. I want my kids to be brown, but if they’re not, it’s fine,” Dillard said behind a sarcastic grin.
“I didn’t think about it when I met Chris, though,” the reality star added. “Whatever happens happens. But I didn’t think about when I was falling in love and like, ‘Oh this is my husband. Oh, wait. I’m gonna have these swirly babies.’”
Fans reacted to the clip on X and dragged the reality star. Many questioned her thought process behind marrying a white man if she desired brown-skinned children.
“Then why did she marry the whitest man she could find? Candiace is a legit weirdo,” replied one X user. “This behavior is highly problematic. #RHOP.”
“Candiace is problematic. She’s fixated with colour. Imagine wanting brown-skinned children but married a white man. I fear for her future children. They’ll need therapy with her as a mother,” wrote another.
Another X user exclaimed, “It shouldn’t matter what complexion her kids end up being. This is really ugly for her to say.”
One X user noted that life is like a box of chocolates and replied, “Genetics are interesting. She could have a brown baby or she could have a white baby. Who knows?”
Dillard Bassett has frequently spoken out about colorism on the RHOP and accused her light-skinned co-stars of being colorists.
“Seems like the only colorist is Candiace,” wrote one fan. “The way she speaks to the light-skinned women in this group says it all. Get her off the show @Andy @BravoTV#RHOP.”
Candiace added that love is all that matters, and she’s fine with whatever color her future children will be.
Upon catching wind of the backlash his wife is receiving, Chris Bassett called into the “Way Up With Angela Yee” show, where his wife is a celebrity guest host, to quiet the critics.
“I don’t know why everybody is so angry right now. My Twitter is blowing up,” he said. “Candiace and I have had this conversation since, probably the day we met.”
He went on to say, “People can have their preferences. We joke about it now since we’ve been married and together. But she knows she’s not getting dark-skinned babies. It’s just not scientifically…”
It was at that moment that Dillard visibly scrunched her face while Angela Yee swiftly interjected to correct the professional chef.
“It could, you never know,” said Yee.
“Science is strange,” Dillard echoed.
“It can be, and you know, if it happens, it’s great. Look, it’s OK to have preferences. I don’t understand why people get so upset,” Bassett added before proclaiming that he’d like his children to have “luscious thick hair.”
