‘Essence’ profiles ‘Housewives’ Lisa Wu Hartwell
Reality TV star dishes on co-stars and her ex-husband, Keith Sweat
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
The ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’ are making the most of their 15 minutes of fame.
Essence.com profiled cast member Lisa Wu Hartwell in an article titled “Independent Woman.” Here are some excerpts:
On co-star Kim Zolciak
“Let’s just say, Kim pushed the wrong and the last button, which takes me there. Normally, I conduct myself professionally and I prefer to turn the other cheek, but you can’t allow people to continue to play with you because they’ll think they can do that all day, every day.
Elissa Eubanks / AJC
Lisa Wu Hartwell is married to former NFL player Ed Hartwell.
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“So I’d say that people will be surprised because I was surprised and somewhat embarrassed myself, but I’m human and you have to let people know that they can’t just say whatever they want to you.”
On her relationship with ex-husband Keith Sweat
“I’ll just say it was a very tumultuous relationship. I was very young and impressionable (20) when I married him. So it was a difficult marriage, but it made me stronger and wiser.
“When you’re young and impressionable, you have to know who you are and love yourself, so you don’t accept anything less than love and respect. I don’t believe that I didn’t love myself, but I lacked confidence.”
On losing custody of her children
“Until this day, I still can’t believe I lost custody because they were convinced that because I was an aspiring actress and Keith was more stable and settled in his career than I was. So because I’m a working mother, that means I’m a bad parent? I still don’t get it.
“It was an unfortunate ruling that was handed to me. It was devastating, and if it can happen to me, it can happen to Mary Poppins, because there was no [behavioral] misconduct on my part. I’ve never done drugs, I don’t party and I helped raise his kids. How do you take my kids when I’m raising yours?”
