Maintaining a long-lasting relationship often comes with a number of responsibilities and standards set by couples, which can either result in a lifetime of fulfillment or end in a complete catastrophe.
Luckily for Kandi Burruss and Todd Tucker, their walk of love led to exchanging vows last April during a quaint wedding ceremony in Atlanta. In addition to the couple displaying their personal lives on Bravo’s hit reality series “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” the twosome also share a union in business, as Tucker serves as executive producer of the singer-songwriter’s popular web series, “Kandi Koated Nights.” This, naturally, involves experimenting with various products from Burruss’ line of adult merchandise, Bedroom Kandi, before each creation hits the market.
With Valentine’s Day steadily approaching, we decided to catch up with the “Hollywood Divas” executive producer (Tucker) and Grammy Award winner (Burruss), who dished on tricks to keep the flame ignited in a relationship, as well as their thoughts on the marketing of sex toys and stigma of sex in the black community.
What are some of the necessary do’s and don’ts for celebrating Valentine’s Day?
K.B.: I would say the first don’t is, don’t forget it. Don’t forget that it’s Valentine’s Day. A lot of guys will be like, “Oh, I forgot. I didn’t realize it was coming up.” Like, no! At least make it a point to show your significant other that you care by at least remembering. Let your significant other be the first person you call that day. Or if you’re like we are, we obviously wake up to each other. So wake me up with a “Happy Valentine’s Day, babe,” something. Breakfast in bed … something to make me feel special as soon as I wake up.
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K.B.: I heard so many things …the black community has always been very hush-hush about things, period. That’s just like, one minute it’s the whole church thing. A lot of times people feel like, “Oh, you don’t do that. You don’t do this.” That’s why when people talk about the whole “down low” thing being so big in the black community, and that’s because people are so afraid to talk about sex and be open and honest about their feelings. What they like. What they don’t like. It’s always about, “We don’t do that” or, “We have this image to uphold,” and, “That’s not something black people do.”
So anytime it comes to sex, I’ve heard people say, “People have always oversexualized black people, so that’s something that we’re supposed to try to make private,” and keep up this crazy image that we’re just above and beyond when it comes to talking about sex. Whereas just as people in general, we should be able to have the open and honest conversation about sex and the knowledge of sexual health, wellness, all of those things combined so that you won’t have people out here afraid to ask questions. And that’s when it comes to sex toys, anything to do with STDs, about their sexuality, anything. It’s always hush-hush in the black community and it shouldn’t be.
This post has been edited for clarity and length.
