Kenya Duke opens up about the lessons she has learned since divorcing actor and comedian, Gary Owen.
While they were married, she acted as his manager while raising her family as a stay-at-home mother. During a recent interview, she spoke about how she thought that she was going to be married to Owen forever.
“He was my best friend,” she said. “I really thought we were going to do this life thing together, you know?” After meeting in LA at one of his comedy shows, the two exchanged information and had been together ever since.
They shared a blended family and let the world inside their life with their 2016 reality TV show. Duke revealed that she was shocked at how the divorce happened because Owen would speak so highly of their relationship.
“That’s why I was so shocked with how the divorce went down,” she said. “Even when I realized it was over, I thought we’d be able to sit across from each other and talk out how we were going to do this, together.”
Kenya continued, “When the divorce came out, I pictured us sitting in Starbucks- he loves coffee- and he’d say ‘okay, what do you need?’ ‘How should we go about getting it done?’ But that hasn’t been the case at all, especially with money. Most of my heartache wasn’t the loss of the marriage- it was what I went through financially.”
We reported that they both announced their divorce on social media, where she revealed that she was upset about the family’s financial support ending.
“Although our children are college-aged, they’d still come home and would need support,” Duke said. She talked about not having any money during the year and half long divorce proceeding. Since then, she has been working in real estate which has been helping her stay financially stable.
“I’m ok now, but I should’ve always had my own,” Duke said. “The first thing I do when I get a new check is to buy Daisy food, but what it took to get here was incredibly eye-opening.”
Kenya Duke added, “For so many years, I took care of my marriage, my children, everyone. It’s finally time to do something for myself that’s authentically me. A part of me definitely died, for sure. But I’ve been reborn.”