The Untold Truth Of Married To Medicine
In the Bravo world of Vanderpumps and Housewives, "Married to Medicine" has carved its own lane. It brings viewers on a trip to the doctor's office and instead of prescriptions and medicine, it provides a weekly dose of drama. For nine seasons, the women on this show have tackled emotional topics like motherhood, marriage troubles, and the grueling schedule of a doctor.
The show got off to a rocky start in 2013 with medical students publicly calling for its cancelation prior to the Season 1 premiere. Per Madame Noir, less than 24 hours after the show was announced, a Change.org petition emerged. It argued that the potentially limiting depictions of Black female doctors offered by the show could affect the opportunities offered to Black female doctors in real life.
Regardless, the show survived the controversy and it now remains one of Bravo's most successful. These doctors know how to bring the drama when they're not busy saving lives. And while the cameras have caught some shady moments between the ladies, gossip sites have also served up plenty of tea on their lives too, making the untold truth of "Married to Medicine" one appointment you don't want to miss.
Toya and Eugene's financial issues
Thanks to Bravo sharing a tour of Eugene and Toya Bush-Harris' extravagant abode, fans were privy to every luxurious nook and cranny of their custom-built 9,000-square-foot Atlanta mansion. By all accounts, their self-proclaimed "dream home" didn't happen overnight. Eugene and Toya began designing and decorating it after dealing with some serious financial troubles during Season 4 of the show, which premiered in 2016.
The couple opened up about the troubles they were facing and admitted to owing the IRS over $170,000. The financial strain led Dr. Eugene to work longer hours at the hospital, and Toya reworked their family budget and spending. Viewers also watched the couple temporarily rent a smaller, more affordable home and warn others about their past financial mistakes. Toya admitted to not following up with her husband about their finances. "It was really negligent on my husband and my part, to be honest with you. I was counting on him to be in charge of the finances, and he was counting on the accountant," she explained to Bravo's "The Daily Dish." "We basically dropped the ball."
As the couple worked their way out of the debt, they even worried how their drastic change of lifestyle would impact their two children. In 2022, the couple eventually sold their dream home. Why? As Toya told Bossip, "I'm bout that money!" According to Zillow, the house sold for $2,950,000, with the couple originally purchasing it for around $2 million.
Heavenly accused Contessa of fabricating storylines
The explosive opening for Season 9 of "Married to Medicine" focused entirely on grievances the cast had toward Dr. Heavenly Kimes. In an attempt to confront the star about her shady behavior on social media, the ladies set up an intervention for her hosted by Dr. Contessa Metcalfe. The women played clips from her Youtube channel that showed her gossiping behind their backs and spreading rumors about their respective marriages. Dr. Kimes didn't stick around to hear anything more.
Though she apologized in the following episodes, Kimes believed Metcalfe pulled this stunt to fabricate a plot point for ratings. "During the season I was really hurt and bothered," she told the Daily Mail. She explained that the vlogs used in the intervention had been available online for years. However, Metcalfe didn't express any anger about them until they began filming for season 9. "So I think Contessa was not straightforward with me and that was my main problem," she continued. "I felt like she used me for a storyline."
Quad's husband was exposed for cheating
Season 5 of "Married to Medicine" chronicled a rough patch in the marriage between Quad Webb and Dr. Gregory Lunceford. The couple couldn't get on the same page on having children and even pondered if a divorce was in their future. At the Season 5 reunion, a bombshell was revealed. Webb explained why she was being distant in her marriage. She told the cast that her husband admitted to spending a night in a hotel room with another woman — who later tried to extort him.
Dr. Lunceford explained his side of the story and claimed the night in the hotel room didn't include any sex. The woman in question later revealed the details to All About The Tea. "I did not try to extort him," Jackie Presley explained. "He told me he likes to spoil women, so I simply asked him for $1,500 — not as extortion, but as a gift."
She explained that he wasn't honest about his marital status and confessed the two had oral sex, something Dr. Lunceford denied. In Season 6, a heartbroken Webb came to terms with her husband's infidelity and later admitted she believed Presley's side of the story. Their divorce was finalized in 2019.
Jackie Walters forgave her cheating husband
Signs of trouble in Dr. Jackie Walters' marriage first appeared in Season 4 of "Married to Medicine," when the coupled disagreed on adopting a child, causing a deep rift between them. While Dr. Walters opened up emotionally about the void not being a mother has left her, it was something her husband, Curtis Berry, couldn't fully understand.
When pictures of Berry with another woman hit gossip blogs, his alleged mistress soon came forward with her side of the story. Natasha Pearson spoke to Radar and claimed that the two repeatedly had sex but that Berry lied to her about his marital status. As the details of the affair went public, viewers watched as Walters grappled with the anguish caused by her husband's deception. In the Season 5 premiere, she was shown discovering Radar's interview with Berry's mistress as the cameras rolled. Despite her husband seeming apologetic and pleading for forgiveness, Walters filed for divorce just three days later. "The forgiveness part of infidelity is a spiritual journey and it does not always happen overnight," she told People. "I'm certainly at a place where I can forgive most, if not everybody. But how can infidelity-damaged relationships survive?"
Somehow Berry and Walters found a way through. As she explained in an episode of "The Daily Dish" (via Bravo), the two chose to work on their marriage together and they later reconciled.
Mariah Huq filed a lawsuit against Bravo
Mariah Huq doesn't work in the ER, but she did bring "Married to Medicine" to life. The self-proclaimed Queen B is credited as a producer and creator of the series. The star appeared as an original cast member but took a hiatus in Season 3. One season later, she made her return and appeared on the show regularly until a surprising development in 2020.
As Season 8 began filming, Huq took to Instagram to announce that Bravo was yet to send her a contract for the show. Speaking to Atlanta Black Star, she subsequently made the claim that she is treated differently from her white colleagues at Bravo. "I wouldn't even be questioned why as an African-American creator and executive producer am I not at the table when decisions about the show that I created are being made. That's the bigger question."
In January 2021, All About The Tea reported that Huq was suing Bravo's production company for intellectual theft and discrimination. The lawsuit alleged that Bravo failed to give the producer credit for the "Married to Medicine" spinoff and to pay her appropriate royalties. The allegations of discrimination noted in the suit were similar to those of Nene Leakes' lawsuit. A year later, on an episode of "Reality with the King," Huq revealed that she chose to drop the case. "Certain things didn't materialize because they didn't have to. It worked itself out. I know God worked it out," she explained.
Anila's dream home was robbed
Dorit Kemsley is not the only Bravo star to deal with a robbery. In Season 9 of "Married to Medicine," Anila Sajja opened up about her home being robbed, and how she believed it was an inside job. In December 2021, she revealed on Instagram that she discovered her home had been broken into and that several items were stolen when she returned from a fun evening with family. "I truly believe this was planned and my house was watched," Sajja shared with her followers. "I have security cameras all around my home, and I'm in a guarded gated community."
On the "Behind The Velvet Rope" podcast, Sajja revealed that she hired a private investigator to investigate the robbery in hopes of finding the people responsible. "It was definitely very traumatizing for me and my family," she said of the robbery. "Nothing like this ever happened to us. It was heartbreaking for it to happen in our brand new home that we just moved into."
Her massive 14,000-square-foot home boasts six bedrooms and ten bathrooms and took over two years to build. Sajja had plenty of arguments with her husband about the expenses, as she went a million dollars over budget.
Quad and Lisa's argument turned physical
The ladies of "Married to Medicine" never back down from speaking their minds. In Season 3, an argument between Quad Webb and Lisa Nicole Cloud went too far. A sit down between the two ladies about business turned into an argument about shady background checks. The two began to air each other's dirty secrets before Cloud threw a drink in Webb's face and pushed her. The fight became so heated that producers had to separate them.
TMZ later reported that both ladies went to the hospital to examine their injuries and they each filed police reports. In an interview with the Michigan Chronicle, Cloud revealed she was embarrassed by the fight and unhappy with how it was edited. "That scene was definitely manipulated. It did not show everything that she said," she explained.
The star alleged that Webb threw punches at her which were never shown to viewers. She also claimed that producers were looking to spice up her image and wanted to instigate some drama. "They kind of thought I was too clean in my first season, so they wanted to dirty me up a little bit and try to make me a little more relatable and not so perfect," she explained. On the show, Cloud struggled to find allies, with many of the cast members vocalizing their unflattering opinions about her marriage. She eventually left the show in 2017 to focus on her business ventures.
Dr. Heavenly spread rumors about Quad's love life
One thing "Married to Medicine" fans can always expect is Dr. Heavenly Kimes stirring up drama. During a game of "Shag, Marry, Kill", Kimes ignited a rumor that resulted in Quad Webb questioning their friendship. When she was asked who she'd marry, Kimes blurted out rapper Common as an answer. As the rest of the confused ladies responded with confusion and curiosity to the statement, Kimes dropped a bomb.
"She done already f***ed him," she jeered. "I'm sorry, did I get permission to share that?" Webb attempted to clear the air by denying it and explaining that Common was in a relationship with Angela Rye at the time. Regardless, it wasn't long before blogs picked up the rumor about the "Married to Medicine" star. Understandably hurt by the false claims, she questioned Kimes' true intentions behind the joke.
"Her actions are not the actions of a true friend," Webb told BET. "What is most hurtful is that we were close for the last two to three years and what she did was very lowbrow and inconsiderate. Once again, a Black woman trying to tear down Black women." Kimes publicly apologized to her pal and explained that she never expected the blogs to take the joke seriously. "Again, to my friend Quad, I am sorry, and I had no idea that it would blow up like this," she told BET. "I take full responsibility for my words, and I hope that I did not hurt anyone which includes Common and Angela Rye."
Dr. Heavenly and Dr. Quad clashed on Instagram
The journey of Dr. Heavenly Kimes and Quad Webb becoming friends had many bumps in the road. The "Married to Medicine" ladies had many arguments, but none as bizarre as the misunderstanding ... over an emoji. When Webb posted a gorgeous bikini photo on Instagram, Kimes jumped in the comments to hype her friend up, dropping a cheeky emoji with a hand over the mouth in the comments. Sadly, Webb took it as shade and replied with the scathing comment, "Damn sis don't be a hater all your life, sorry you spent all your coins at the doctor and still didn't get the body GOD gave me," she wrote (via Bossip). "Now, run and tell that!"
Kimes was left just as confused as fans were. When a Twitter user asked if the two were joking with one another, she responded, "We literally have no beef ... I hope she's ok! Praying for my sis!" In Season 8, Webb cleared the air. During a group dinner, she explained that she misinterpreted the emoji — her Android phone showed an emoji with a hand covering the nose. "I basically read the emoji all types of wrong," she told Kimes. "I literally thought you were calling me smelly or stinky!" Things between the friends didn't get resolved that night because that dinner quickly erupted into a war of words between the two.
Their day jobs may pay better than their Bravo gig
The "Married to Medicine" ladies work hard and they have a glamorous life to show for it. Dr. Heavenly Kimes and Dr. Simone Whitmore both own their own practices which means they earn more than others in their field. According to a 2017 survey by Medscape (via Cheat Sheet), self-employed OB-GYNs are estimated to earn $300,000 annually. While Dr. Jackie Walters is successful in her own right — she's a published author and has celebrity clients on her books like Toni Braxton and Usher – OB-GYNs without their own practice are estimated to earn $32,000 less yearly than their self-employed peers, on average.
Meanwhile, a cosmetic dentist like Kimes is reported to make around $200,00 annually, according to PayScale, and Concierge Physicians like Dr. Contessa Metcalfe are expected to earn around $300,00 annually, per Physician's Weekly.
How much the "Married to Medicine" cast get paid by Bravo remains unknown as of 2022. If the paychecks of their network counterparts are any indication, then they could still be picking up a tasty sum. According to Us Weekly, main cast members of the "Real Housewives" franchise were reported to make around $50,000 per season. That's practically pocket change to these successful women.
What happened to Married to Medicine: Los Angeles?
The success of "Married to Medicine" allowed Bravo to green light a spin-off series based in LA. "Married to Medicine: Los Angeles" premiered in 2019 and went on for two seasons before it was canceled. According to Screen Rant, the show was supposed to begin filming its third season but production was halted due to COVID-19 restrictions. Two months later, the cast was told of the show's cancellation.
In claims made to the outlet, a source suggested that the show wasn't given the proper support it needed to survive. Certainly, the spin-off didn't receive a desirable time slot with a popular Bravo show lead-in, which may have affected the ratings. Furthermore, the women's career in medicine wasn't the main focus of the show like in the original series, and the cast wasn't introduced properly like their peers. "When you see new cast members of other shows being introduced and promoted with a lot of strategy and effort it makes me wonder why they didn't get that same introduction to the viewers," the source told Screen Rant.
As of 2022, the original series seemed to be doing better than ever, with the Season 9 premiere off to a great start in ratings in July. According to TV Deets, it did better in ratings than the previous season.