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Home • News

EXCLUSIVE: Holly Robinson Peete: My Family Was Too Happy for Reality TV

The actress on the feedback her family received after shooting a pilot for a reality TV show.
Holly Robinson Peete: My Family Was Too Nice for Reality TV
Getty Images/Steve Granitz
By Myeisha Essex · Updated October 28, 2020
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Holly Robinson Peete seems to have the perfect formula for a family-friendly reality show: she’s been happily married for 18 years to her NFL quarterback hubby, she is the mother of four beautiful children and is a working actress in Hollywood. But, during a recent interview with ESSENCE.com, Peete revealed that producers found her family to be “a little too happy” for primetime.

“We’ve been approached many times and we actually shot a pilot for [a reality show],” Peete told ESSENCE at our sixth annual Black Women in Hollywood luncheon. “The feedback was like, ‘Maybe you guys are a little too happy.’ I think they need a little bit more drama so I might need to flip some tables.”

Although Peete looked forward to the idea of sharing her family with the world, she said she’s happy to have avoided the drama associated with reality television.

“I told my kids the good news is we’re pretty good. We have our problems just like everybody else but the reality show world is a slippery slope so maybe it’s better that we don’t,” she said.

The actress herself has participated in a few reality series, including RuPaul’s Drag U and the third season of Celebrity Apprentice.