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Home · Only at ESSENCE

'Real Housewives' Star Gizelle Bryant Explains Why She Turned To Therapy After Break Up With Sherman Douglas

By Joi-Marie McKenzie · May 3, 2019December 6, 2020
"The Real Housewives of Potomac" returns for a brand new season of drama on Sunday at 9 p.m. Eastern/8 p.m. Central on Bravo.

There can only be one Grand Dame of Potomac and after last season, it’s clear: the fans have crowned a new Queen Bee—Gizelle Bryant.

After we saw Bryant hold her castmates accountable last season (from deciphering half-truths about who lives where to trekking to the French Riveria), the reality star-turned-author is now trying to hold someone else accountable—herself.

Or as Bryant told ESSENCE earlier this week, this season “you see me working on Gizelle.”

The creator of EveryHue Beauty Cosmetics said it was her new single status that prompted her self-reflection. Last year, Bryant broke up with former NBA player Sherman Douglas after a year-and-a-half of dating. The mother of three said she’s “happy” the two are “no longer.”

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“He did some things that were not right, and we’ll see that [play out] this season,” she teased. “Anytime you do something that’s not right, you gots to go.”

And while she’s happily dating, Bryant is using her free time to seek professional help. The reality star is unashamed to admit she’s in therapy.

“I go to therapy, yes. I’m trying to figure out why I kick people to the curb and remove people from my life so quickly,” she revealed. “Obviously I’ve done some things wrong, and I just want to make Gizelle the best, greatest thing—per my tagline—that you’ve ever seen walking.”

Bryant isn’t just adjusting to life being a single mom to three teenage girls, she’s also getting used to long-distance co-parenting with her ex-husband, Pastor Jamal Bryant, who’s now living in Atlanta.

THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF POTOMAC — “Reunion” — Pictured: (l-r) Karen Huger, Andy Cohen, Gizelle Bryant — (Photo by: Charles Sykes/Bravo)
THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF POTOMAC — “Reunion” — Pictured: (l-r) Candiace Dillard, Monique Samuels, Karen Huger, Gizelle Bryant, Ashley Boalch Darby, Robyn Dixon — (Photo by: Charles Sykes/Bravo)

“He’s really trying to make an effort to see the girls,” Bryant said, referencing her three children, 13-year-old twins, Angel and Adore, along with 14-year-old Grace. “In his mind because he is in Atlanta, he’s trying to do more and go above and beyond to make sure that he’s with them. Our relationship is better than it’s ever been.”

The reality star said after being divorced for more than a decade, she and her ex have both matured into an amicable and supportive relationship. The two, along with their children, even “just came back from a family vacation,” Bryant shared.

“He and I have a great friendship and we still kind of rely on that as we go through our daily life,” she continued. “I mean, come on, we’ve been divorced 11 years. It’s been that long—it has. So now we know each other probably better than anyone else knows us, and that’s a beautiful thing. Regardless of what happens with us, he’s family no matter what.”

Instagram/Gizelle Bryant

Bryant’s experience as a first lady to a megachurch led her to put down her make up brushes and pick up a pen to write her debut novel, My Word, which she emphasized is “loosely based on my life when I was married.”

“It’s very much like a secret society. It’s very clique-ish. It’s very supportive, yet backstabbing; kind of like The Real Housewives of Potomac,” she quipped of being a one-time first lady. “It’s a fun read. It’s very salacious. It’s a page turner, but…after you finish reading My Word, you’re going to feel real good about yourself.”

THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF POTOMAC — Pictured: (l-r) Robyn Dixon, Gizelle Bryant, Ashley Boalch Darby — (Photo by: Larry French/Bravo)

That’s because Bryant said the real message of the book that she wants readers to walk away with is the idea that “we have to always empower ourselves and lift ourselves up.”

She continued, “I felt like when I got divorced that was kind of an unwritten rule of something I was not supposed to be doing, but I went ahead and did it anyway because I thought that was best for me.”

“You know, your life goes one way, you think, but then some turns happen,” Bryant added. “But you get through that.”

The Real Housewives of Potomac returns for season four on Sunday at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. Central.

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TOPICS:  Only at ESSENCE celebrity essence essence live essencelive real housewives real housewives of potomac rhop television
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