Porsha Williams
Porsha Dyanne Williams is an American television personality and actress. Williams has starred on the television series The Real Housewives of Atlanta since its fifth season in 2012 and Dish Nation since its second season in 2013, and finished in eighth place on The New Celebrity Apprentice in 2017. Her marriage to football player Kordell Stewart was featured on Platinum Weddings, although they divorced in 2013.
Life and career
1981–2011: Early life
Williams was born in Atlanta, Georgia on June 22, 1981. Her parents are self-employed entrepreneurs. She has a younger sister named Lauren and a brother named Hosea. Her grandfather is the late Hosea Williams, a prominent civil rights activist. She attended Southwest Dekalb High School in Decatur, Georgia as a teenager, and later pursued a degree in business information technology at the American InterContinental University in Schaumburg, Illinois.In her early adulthood, Williams appeared in music videos in pursuit of a potential career in the modeling industry, which she has said was "what you did in Atlanta when you wanted to become a model, and you were young and beautiful". She additionally opened a daycare facility when she was 24 years old, elaborating that "it just was in my blood to want to own something for myself" given her parents' careers. In 2005, Williams modeled for a "pin-up" calendar for the Atlanta Dymes. Williams began dating football player Kordell Stewart while she was employed at the Luckie Lounge in Atlanta, Georgia. The couple married in an elaborate ceremony in May 2011, which was filmed and broadcast for the WE tv television series Platinum Weddings. Through the marriage, she became the stepmother to his minor-aged son Syre from his previous relationship with Tania Richardson.
2012–13: ''The Real Housewives of Atlanta''
In September 2012, it was announced by Bravo that Williams and Kenya Moore were cast for the fifth season of the reality television series The Real Housewives of Atlanta, alongside returning cast members Cynthia Bailey, Kandi Burruss, NeNe Leakes, Phaedra Parks and Kim Zolciak. Williams made her first appearance of the season during the third episode on November 18, 2012, where she was shown to clash with Moore during a charity event for Feed the Homeless. The remainder of the season documented their ensuing feud, and a later conflict with Bailey after she felt that Williams lacked dedication to a pageant Bailey coordinated for her modeling agency.She additionally expressed an intent to have children with Stewart, although she later visited a therapist after they began experiencing marital difficulties.
After approximately two years of marriage, Stewart filed for divorce from Williams in March 2013. During the reunion special for the fifth season of The Real Housewives of Atlanta the following month, she commented that she was "totally blindsided" by the filing and alleged that she learned of their separation through Twitter. Their divorce was finalized in December 2013; Williams received none of his property or earnings through the settlement.
The sixth season of The Real Housewives of Atlanta premiered in November, and documented the deterioration of Williams's relationship with her husband. She was briefly hospitalized during the season, which the series depicted was caused by stress stemming from her then-ongoing divorce.
After an episode of The Real Housewives of Atlanta broadcast in December 2013, Williams received criticism after making comments in which she indicated her belief that the Underground Railroad was an actual railroad line. She later commented that "It was a brain lapse. I have Porsha moments that you’ve seen on the show before. For me seeing that I knew that I had to go back and brush up on my history so I’m representing my legacy well." She also and joined the cast of Burruss's stage musical A Mother's Love.
2014–present
She released her debut single "Flatline" through the iTunes Store on March 17, 2014. Later that month, Williams received media attention after an altercation with Moore while filming the sixth season reunion for The Real Housewives of Atlanta. While filming the reunion special at the Biltmore Hotel on March 27, Moore implied that Williams was unfaithful during her marriage; after Williams called Moore a "slut from the '90s" and Moore yelled that Williams was "a dumb ho" from a megaphone, Williams assaulted Moore. Moore later threatened to quit the series if Williams was to remain, commenting that "we've become angry with each other, we've threatened each other and gone to the edge. But at the end of the day, we know there's a line." Williams was arrested on December 29, 2014, for speeding with a suspended license, but was released the same day.In September 2015, Bravo announced that Williams had signed on to return as a main cast member, along with new cast member and actress Kim Fields. On January 28, 2016, it was announced that she is participating as a contestant on The New Celebrity Apprentice, also known as The Apprentice 15 and The Celebrity Apprentice 8. On September 19, 2018, Williams announced her pregnancy. On October 1, it was reported that she was engaged to entrepreneur Dennis McKinley. The proposal was shown on The Real Housewives of Atlanta which aired on 17th February 2019. On March 22, 2019, she gave birth to their daughter, Pilar Jhena. Williams and McKinley briefly split in June, but have reunited as of August.
On July 15, 2020, Williams was among 87 protesters who were arrested outside the home of Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron. She was calling for Cameron to arrest the killers of Breonna Taylor. After law enforcement warned that staying on Cameron's property was unlawful, Williams, along with the rest of the group, was charged with intimidating a participant in a legal process, disorderly conduct and criminal trespass. She was released the next day.