Kandi Burruss is opening up about the flack she took from family members over her decision to use a surrogate to have her second child with husband Todd Tucker, 46. The 43-year-old Real Housewives of Atlanta star appeared on Tamron Hall‘s daytime talk show on Jan. 15 to discuss her experience with gestational carrier Shadina Blunt having their child. Sadly, Kandi’s family members were insensitive about her decision to use a surrogate, even wondering if Kandi would be able to bond with a baby she didn’t carry herself.
“One of my family members brought up, ‘Well you don’t think you’re going to bond with her?’ and it just kind of hurt my feelings. I didn’t say anything, but it did hurt my feelings. Overall, I just think people have to be a little more sensitive when that subject comes up. I still get a little sensitive about it,” Kandi shared. “People don’t really have the information so they don’t really know. It scares you as soon as you find out obviously. I mean, people are like ‘Why you wanna do that’ and they automatically think it’s a ‘vain’ decision, that you’re doing it just cause you don’t want to…c’mon honey, I’ve got money to get my body back if I need to,” she joked.
Kandi and Todd married in 2014 and welcomed a son Ace Tucker, 4, in 2016. Kandi ended up turning to IVF to conceive Ace, following two years of trying unsuccessfully to get pregnant naturally. The couple still had two embryos left and decided to use a surrogate expand their family, as seen in RHOA season 11 after it was determined that a pregnancy for Kandi would come at a high risk.
It was revealed in Sept. of 2019 that Kandi and Todd were expecting their second child via surrogate. During the RHOA season 12 premiere in Nov. 2019, Kandi shared that they were initially expecting twins. “We actually was supposed to be having twins, and then one of them didn’t continue,” the Xscape singer explained, adding, “I was sad at first, but then I just had to be grateful that the one made it.”
“To allow somebody to carry my child inside of them? It was a tough decision to make,” Kandi confessed. “I just feel like this whole situation is strange. I don’t get to be excited about the first kick. I don’t get to be excited about, ‘Oh now my baby bump is showing.’ I don’t get to be excited even about my boobs filling up with milk. You have this guilt [and] sadness,” she added. “So it’s a joyous, yet interesting experience.” Shadina delivered Kandi and Todd’s daughter Blaze Tucker on Nov. 22, 2019, weighing in at a healthy 8 lbs., 1 oz.