Andy Cohen welcomed his own child via surrogate in February and had some words of wisdom for Kandi Burruss at the Real Housewives of Atlanta reunion
Kandi Burruss got teary-eyed on Sunday’s Real Housewives of Atlanta season 11 reunion as she recalled the emotional advice Andy Cohen gave her about using a surrogate to expand her family.
The Grammy winner, 42, spent all season on RHOA trying to convince husband Todd Tucker to use a surrogate to try for another child, a decision she came to after a high-risk pregnancy with their son Ace, 3, and her history with fibroids — noncancerous growths in the uterus.
Though they both have daughters from previous relationships (Riley Burruss, 16, and Kaela Tucker, 22), the IVF process they underwent to have Ace left the couple with two embryos, both girls.
Eventually, after meeting with a potential candidate through her OBGYN (Married to Medicine‘s Dr. Jackie Walters), Todd, 45, agreed. On Sunday’s RHOA reunion, taped in March, Kandi revealed the couple was transferring the embryos to their surrogate.
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All of that inspired Cohen to reach out to Kandi with his own advice.
As Kandi recalled, the Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen host — who welcomed his own child, son Benjamin Allen, via surrogate in February — called her to talk about how touched he was by the process. “I wanted to tell you what my experience was, and give you a little bit of a boost,” he said.
“I don’t want to get teary-eyed about it,” Kandi said. “I said, ‘Well I guess I’m going to have a baby momma.’ And he said, ‘Don’t you ever say that, because you are your baby’s mother and if you say that, you are taking away from yourself.’ “
Cohen was happy to stress that message again to Kandi on Sunday.
“Surrogates are absolutely incredible,” he said. “The sacrifices they make, and what she’s making for you. I kept saying to my surrogate, ‘How are you feeling about the idea of me being in the delivery room and handing this baby to me?’ And she said, ‘I can’t wait for you to hold your child. He is your child.’ “
Also during the RHOA reunion, Kandi explained that Todd’s reluctance to use a surrogate for so long came down to representation.
“The African American community, we’re not as open about stuff like that,” Kandi said. “So we don’t have as many people who are sharing their experience. It’s not like I had a lot of friends who I could say [to him], ‘Oh yeah, they did this.’ “
The Real Housewives of Atlanta airs Sundays (8 p.m. ET) on Bravo.
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