Real Housewives Of Atlanta: Porsha Williams reveals she experienced 'seriously abusive situations'

Porsha Williams talked openly about the hardships she encountered as a result of losing her father as a teenager.

The 40-year-old reality star reflected on the divorce of her parents on the latest episode of the Real Housewives Of Atlanta which aired on Sunday night.

 She was joined by her mother, Diane, and half-sister Lauren – who she shares the same father with – as she talked about the impact her father’s absence had on her while growing up. 

Porsha said that she didnt ‘really identify with daddy issues’ but later experienced personal hardships in the wake of her dad’s death especially when she started to date.

She told her family members: ‘Unfortunately, once he died and I’m in those years of 17, when you start to date and all of that, he wasn’t here. He died.

‘That mindset of me just having a skeleton idea of what a man should be led me into like, seriously abusive situations.’

She later said in a confessional that she didn’t really consider the impact of not having a dad in the house but that has since changed as an adult.

She explained: ‘Now doing something like [working on] my book with my mom and my sister, I am realizing I was lacking something.’

Porsha primarily stayed with her mother, Diane, at around three-years-old following her parents’ divorce.

Of her feelings at the time, the reality star said: ‘It was just kind of confusing at first, because I had my home with Mommy that felt complete, solid, and then over here with Dad, it was another home that could be complete and solid. And why am I going in between?’ 

Lauren lived with their father as Porsha ‘more so came over on the weekends’ but praised her parents for having a healthy co-parenting relationship despite not being together.

Porsha explained: ‘I feel like a lot of kids feel like divorce is, you know, traumatizing. But, I mean, I think y’all did a really good job with the go back and forth.’ 

At the time of filming she was working on her book – The Pursuit Of Porsha – which is about ‘me becoming who I am.

‘And a lot of the things that I’ve been through in my life, you all have played a pivotal role.’

She said in a confessional: ‘I am writing a book, which for me is very therapeutic. I’ve had to learn a lot through hardships, and there is a lot that I would love for young girls to know. I’ve actually dealt with depression, abuse, etcetera, and I’ve made it in spite of all.’ 

The trio went on to talk about Lauren’s relationship with their father who reminisced over happy memories which made them realize that they had completely different experiences.

Lauren said that he used to take her to doctor’s appointments and gave her a kiss every day before heading to work.

She said: ‘I remember him waking up in the morning, kissing me on the forehead and going to work, and not coming back until it was time to go to bed.’

Porsha replied: ‘You got kissed on the forehead in the morning? Every morning?’ 

Lauren confirmed that he did as she said: ‘He would go to work, and then he would come back, and then he would go to bed. So he was very consistently there, definitely.’ 

 Porsha began to get emotional and started to tear up as her half sister rushed over to give her a hug.

Diane said during the emotional moment: ‘She experienced a whole different dad than you.’

As Porsha is a mother to 16-month-old daughter Pilar Jhena, she said that her relationship with her father has got her thinking about her ex Dennis McKinley’s involvement as a father and praised him for his role as a parent despite them not being together.

She explained: ‘When it comes to PJ, the part that I do get sad [about] is that I do wish we could’ve worked out, for Dennis to be in the house.

‘When I look at it, I know that Dennis is such a powerful father figure. I honestly do feel like as much as I’m going to put into her to know about the real s*** out here in the world, he will too.’

The Pursuit of Porsha is set to be published in September 2021 by Worthy Publishing. 

Real Housewives Of Atlanta airs Sunday nights at 8pm on Bravo.