Kandi Burruss On What Really Went Down During ‘Kandi’s Ski Trip’

Essence.com:

Pack your bags, because you’re about to go on one epic ski trip with the Burruss-Tucker families.

When two big families become one even bigger family, drama is certain to follow. When Real Housewives Of Atlanta star Kandi Burruss and her new husband, television producer Todd Tucker entered marital bliss, it was tough getting their families to follow suit. To get to the bottom of their family issues, Kandi and Todd planned a gigantic family ski getaway in Steamboat, Colorado, and brought the cameras along for the fun.

Bravo will premiere the first of three-part special, Kandi's Ski Trip, which documents the couple’s big blended family weekend in Steamboat Colorado, on Sunday, but we couldn’t wait until then to find out what happened when Kandi, Todd, and their hilarious brood holed up in the mountains and got real. Here’s the scoop on what’s to come.

ESSENCE: So, how did you decide on Colorado for the big trip?
KANDI BURRUSS: We just thought that would be a good place to go. It was on our wish list of places to try, and it just so happened to work out for the right time.

ESSENCE: Who came along for the fun?
BURRUSS: People have had the chance to see my family dynamic before, and they know it’s always a little bit extra and a lot turned up. The whole point of the trip was that Todd and I were trying to blend our families. You’ll get to see people that you’ve seen from my family before, like my mom, my aunt, and some of the people who work for me. Todd brings his brother, his uncle and his aunt too. Now that we’re married, we just want everybody to be on the same page.

ESSENCE: What really goes down on the slopes?
BURRUSS: You’re going to see two families trying to blend. Riley and Kaela, our daughters, have come a long way. You’ll get to see them getting along and having fun. You’re going to see my mom and Todd in a better place, thank the Lord. We’re trying to get [my mom] to work through things with my friend Carmen, and that’s a challenge, obviously. You’ll also see my mom’s feelings toward the people who work for me, and how she feels that they don’t really do anything and they get paid for nothing. Obviously that topic comes up and their feelings. And then my family feels like I’ve changed since I’ve been married, so that’s addressed. But I think everybody changes a little bit when they get married. I don’t know if that’s fair.

ESSENCE: So you guys are digging deep?
BURRUSS: I feel like any time you’re with your family, especially when you have the cameras around, they always seem to make you address issues that you normally kind of brush under the rug. Any time you have a big family that’s close, you’re always gonna have something. Trying to deal with things and combine the two families is very interesting. If people think it’s just us going and taking a few skiing lessons, that’s not it. It’s way more than that on this show.

ESSENCE: What have you learned about blending families?
BURRUSS: Well, I think that it definitely takes a lot of time. We had to work on our immediate blending first – our kids and the two of us. That was the first thing we needed to work on. We have family day and we do activities to try and make the girls work together, because I think when you have older kids and you try to blend them together, they’re already in their feelings, where they think, why does this have to change, or why is this that way? So, it’s harder to get the older kids to want to blend than it is a small child. You have to do a lot of family activities and do things that make it fun to work together. It takes a lot of patience, and people just want things to happen over night, but they won’t.

ESSENCE: You and Todd have had to spend more time apart. Is that still a struggle for you two?
BURRUS: Well, lately things have been a lot better. He hasn’t been out of town as much. Just like everyone else, you just have to make an effort. If you’re working too much and you get too caught up in your day-to-day, you lose focus and forget to work together and cater to each other. I think an effort has to be made on both parts.

ESSENCE: What do you love the most about the newlywed life with Todd?
BURRUSS: Spending quality time together and hanging out. We have our regular date night—we bought season tickets to the Atlanta Hawks games. It sounds simple, but it makes us have to take time out and do something together, just the two of us. Sometimes you work so much that you let things get in the way and you keep pushing things off until the next week, and the next week. [Our date night] is really quality time. We really like watching our favorite shows together. Every night we DVR our favorite shows, so we come home and we’re like, “What have we not caught up on yet?” It’s a little thing between us that we really just love. Right now we’re on Secrets and Lies real heavy, we watch Game Of Thrones and we also watch Love and Hip Hop: Atlanta.

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