Kenya Moore Got Shade, Not Hugs, From Her Mama — Their Relationship Is Messy!

The Breakdown: Kenya Moore has never gotten the love she deserved from her mother, Patricia, leaving their relationship strained. Kenya has tried to salvage their bond, but it has been unsuccessful.

Since joining Real Housewives of Atlanta, Kenya Moore has been open about her strained relationship with her mother. When you think of Kenya, you think beauty, brains, and that bold “Gone with the Wind fabulous” energy. But behind all the glam, Kenya's relationship with her mother has always been one of the most heartbreaking parts of her story.

Kenya has been a recognizable face since the early 90s. She started modeling at just 14 years old, winning beauty pageants and building a name for herself way before reality TV came calling. In 1993, Kenya made history by becoming the second Black woman to win the Miss USA title. This achievement catapulted her into the limelight, leading to roles in films like "Waiting to Exhale" and "Deliver Us from Eva."

Now, Kenya is a bone-fide star, but her relationship with her mother is still a sore spot. The model has candidly spoken about their severed bond, which has not gotten better over the years. Let’s take a look at Kenya’s relationship with her mother.

Kenya was abandoned by her mother, Patricia Moore, just three days after birth and raised by her paternal grandmother, Doris Grant. In a Bravo blog post, Kenya revealed that her mother has refused to mend their relationship. “Since birth, my mother made the decision at age 16 to pretend she never had me. She has never spoken to me. Even if present in the same room with other people and family, she pretends that I simply don’t exist,” Kenya wrote on her Bravo blog. “She pretends I’m invisible.”

In a 1993 magazine article, Patricia stated, "The door for communication has been and always will remain open," yet Kenya has consistently expressed that her mother has never acknowledged her, per E! News.

Still, Kenya chose to break the cycle. When she had her daughter, Brooklyn, in 2018, she made it clear that her baby would always know unconditional love. "I think I've come a long way from where I used to be," Kenya said (via People). "My daughter — she's 3, and she's just the world to me. I had her very late in life, but I wanted to be the type of mom to my daughter that I never had."

Kenya’s relationship with her father, Ronald Grant, was also complex. In a 2016 episode of RHOA, Kenya and Ronald had an emotional conversation addressing their strained relationship. Kenya expressed her feelings of abandonment, stating, "I decided not to invite my father because you never know what he's going to say," referencing her decision to exclude him from her wedding to Marc Daly.

Despite past tensions, Kenya and Ronald have made significant strides in their relationship. In 2018, Moore shared a heartfelt Father's Day post on Instagram, featuring a photo with her father. “I strongly believe that fathers instill self-esteem in their daughters,” she wrote in the caption of her post. “If you have the love of your dad, you will never settle for anything less than what your dad showed you.”