RHOA Star Kenya Moore and Husband Marc Daly Split After 2 Years of Marriage
Kenya Moore will be twirling on her own.
PEOPLE can exclusively reveal the Real Housewives of Atlanta star and her husband Marc Daly have split, a little over two years after saying their “I dos.”
Moore, 48, and Daly, 49, have been married since June 2017, when they tied the knot in a romantic sunset ceremony on a St. Lucia beach.
Their separation comes less than a year after Moore gave birth to their first child, daughter Brooklyn Doris Daly, on Nov. 4, 2018.
In exclusive statements to PEOPLE, both Moore and Daly asked for privacy.
“It is with profound sadness that I regret to inform my fans that I am divorcing my husband Marc Daly,” Moore said. “Due to recent and ongoing circumstances, I can no longer continue in the marriage. My sole concern and focus is and will always be my daughter, Brooklyn, my miracle baby. She was made in love and true commitment. I ask for our privacy to be respected moving forward.”
Said Daly: “I have come to the difficult decision to separate from Kenya at this time. Our daughter has two parents that love her very much and in her best interests, this situation should remain as private as possible. I cherish our family’s good times together and will continue to co-parent in a loving way. Rumors, innuendo or false accusations only serve to hurt our family and will be addressed through counsel as the law permits. Please respect our privacy during this challenging period.”
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A post shared by Kenya Moore (@thekenyamoore) on Jul 12, 2019 at 9:52am PDT
Moore and Daly were together as recently as Tuesday night, when they attended a benefit reception he hosted in honor of the Black Man Lab at the Wimbish House in Atlanta.
And on Monday, Moore, Daly, and baby Brooklyn were together in New York City for an episode of The Tamron Hall Show — their first television appearance as a family.
It was also a rare appearance for Daly, who only appeared briefly on RHOA with Moore in season 10 before her exit from the show. She’ll be back for season 12, which is being filmed now.)
On Tamron Hall, Moore called Daly “the love of my life” as he recounted how he supported her through her long IVF process.
“It’s incredibly challenging because the success rate for these these treatments are very low,” he said. “There’s expectations, but you also have to be prepared for disappointed. So just being there, being supportive, being hopeful, being positive and just being behind her was what it’s all about.”
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In an exclusive interview about their nuptials in June 2017, Moore told PEOPLE that their bond was nearly instantaneous.
“I’ve never experience a first date like this before,” she gushed. “You know when you meet people, and you like them or have good chemistry with them but you don’t feel like the world has changed? I felt like the earth moved after our first date.”
The two first met through mutual friend (and fellow Bravolebrity) chef Roblé Ali back in June 2016, though they didn’t start dating until December of that year.
“I probably would have married him in 30 days, the feeling was that strong,” she said of their first date. “But we wanted to wait and get to know each other and make sure it wasn’t an infatuation. We needed to make sure it was actually real.”
She went on to describe Daly as “extremely romantic” and “a fun-loving, happy person” who brings a lot of “calm, security and protection” to her. She also praised him for seeing her as she really is, rather than her heightened TV personality.
“People think they know me from the glimpses they have of my life being a reality star,” Moore said. “But [Marc] sees me for who I am. …. He really knows my heart.”
“That’s why I fell in love with him,” she continued. “For him, it’s about being my protector and my best friend — not being someone that stands next to me, but someone who supports me and is okay with being behind me sometimes. He doesn’t want my money, he doesn’t want my fame, he doesn’t want my success. He just wants my heart, and he has it.”
Soon after welcoming Brooklyn in December, Moore told PEOPLE that Daly had been a source of strength fin her early days of motherhood.
It helped that he had experience as a dad already, with two children (one grown and the other a teenager) from a previous relationship.
“He has been the best father,” Moore said. “He changes her diaper. He even tried to dress her one day. He lays her on her stomach and they watch TV and just hang out together. He talks to her the whole time. He really has been the most incredible doting dad. It just makes me have more respect for him.”
Daly was also by Moore’s side in the delivery room, where doctors had to cut her horizontally and vertically to avoid fibroids that could’ve potentially caused her to bleed out. The operation normally takes 30 minutes, but in Moore’s procedure lasted over three hours.
Though the ordeal was “scary,” Daly helped her pull through. “He was really strong and just amazing in the operation room,” Moore said. “Marc was having a hard time in the waiting room because he’s one of those guys who can’t stand the sight of blood, so he didn’t want to see the baby come out because he just knew he would faint.”
She continued, “But he stayed focused on me when we were in there. And he never warned me of anything like, ‘There’s so much blood.’ He never panicked. I couldn’t have done it without him.”
The Real Housewives of Atlanta‘s next season is expected to premiere before the end of the year.
