‘RHOA’s Riley Burruss Opens Up About Special Bond With Mom Kandi: ‘She’s The Best Teacher’
‘RHOA’s Riley Burruss grew up learning from her famous mom! She reveals EXCLUSIVELY how she’s always there for her ahead of Bravo’s ‘WWHL’ Mother’s Day special.
Riley Burruss, 19, grew up in front of viewers’ eyes on The Real Housewives of Atlanta next to her mom, Kandi Burruss, 44. The two have a close bond, and although Riley is now studying at NYU, her mama is always just a phone call away. “When it comes to life, she knows pretty much anything,” Riley told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY during an episode of TVTalk on Instagram Live on May 7. “I call her up to ask her for help with literally anything and she’s always down to help. I definitely think that she’s the best teacher because she has so many different experiences.”
In addition to Riley, Kandi is also a proud mom to Ace Tucker, 5, and daughter Blaze Tucker, 1, with her husband — and Riley’s stepdad — Todd Tucker. The Grammy winner raised her first-born daughter as a single mother while Riley watched her mom’s career soar. Kandi joined female group Xscape as a teen in 1992 before launching her solo career in 2000. From there, she found massive success in songwriting with hits like TLC‘s “No Scrubs” and Destiny’s Child‘s “Bills, Bills, Bills,” just to name a few. Bravo fans really got to know the Atlanta based mother-daughter duo, however, when Kandi joined the cast for season 2 of the show. The mom-of-three has been a full-time peach holder for 11 seasons and counting.
Watching her mom’s success has made Riley have a change of heart when it comes to her future goals. “I initially went to NYU to study nutrition,” Riley added. “But I recently switched my major to music business because I do want to be an entertainment lawyer so I felt like that matched up better for my music career. I feel like growing up with my mom as my mother and seeing her do her music stuff with her career really inspired me. It’s like I’m learning again at NYU. I feel like I kind of know a lot of stuff from my mom,” she tells HL.
Although Riley thinks she could do great work for her mom, she doesn’t see herself going all in when it comes to mixing business and family. “I did talk to her about it,” Riley said. “I think that’s just an easy thing to do once I’ve gotten enough experience. I don’t think I’d want to be her main lawyer but I definitely would be down to work side by side. But of course, I’d want to be more of an advisor to her so we didn’t have to mix too much family and business and worry about that.”
Riley teamed up with other Housewife kids like The Real Housewives of New York’s Avery Singer, and The Real Housewives of Orange County’s Briana Culberson, for a special Mother’s Day edition of Watch What Happens Live. She had a great time with everyone, but she clicked a little extra with The Real Housewives of New Jersey’s Gia Giudice. “I thought Gia was really nice,” Riley said. “I had never met her before. I didn’t know anyone else, really. I thought she was really nice. She seemed very genuine. She’s a very cool person. We did make a group chat afterwards just to add each other and connect. No, I haven’t reached out since then but I probably should.”
Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live Mother’s Day special airs May 9 at 10pm.