‘Black-Ish’ creator Kenya Barris calls off divorce from wife Rainbow
Last August, the couple separated after 20 years of marriage and six children.
Looks like Kenya Barris and his wife Dr. Raina “Rainbow” Barris have decided to give their marriage another chance.
Nine months ago the Black-ish creator filed for divorce but according to court documents obtained by The Blast, on May 15th he filed for a dismissal asking the court to throw out his petition and keep him legally married.
(Photo: Netflix)
READ MORE: Kenya Barris embraces criticism of Netflix show ‘#BlackAF’: ‘I take opinions good with the bad’
Last year, the Barris’ separated after 20 years of marriage and six children, Lola, 13, Beau, 11, Kass, 9, and Bronx, 3, and two other children over the age of 18.
In April, the writer who often uses his family as inspiration for his work, sat down with T.I. for his podcast expediTIously, to talk about how difficult it can be to stay happily married during rough times without a clear blueprint.
“It is part of life,” he explained after announcing he was getting divorced. “When I was growing up, we didn’t have—I never saw Cliff and Clair argue. If you look at sitcoms and our stories, we’re supposed to be okay. But 52% of marriages don’t work. And the notion of understanding—We didn’t know about therapy or really understand it. We didn’t know about really having the church or other married friends that would have given us the skeleton to make it in another sort of way.”
READ MORE: Kenya Barris speaks on divorce: ‘It’s the toughest thing’
READ MORE: Black-ish creator Kenya Barris filed for divorce from wife of 20 years
He also shared how the way his divorce was announced only made things worse at the time.
“Somehow, some f*cked up way, it got announced on my birthday I didn’t file on my birthday but it got announced on my birthday. I don’t know that people care about me getting divorced. I’m not anybody, especially at that point. And all of a sudden it’s in the papers as I’m getting off the plane coming from Atlanta,” he revealed.
“I have my wife calling me. I have my daughter who’s a sophomore at USC calling me. I have my daughter, who’s a senior in high school, calling me because her friends are talking about it. I’m just not used to…it’s a different world than I ever expected and I’m trying to experience it with the audience in real time. This is all happening to me as it’s happening on air.”
This isn’t the first time the Barris family has gone through this. Back in 2014, Rainbow petitioned for a divorce but withdrew her request after they reconciled a year later.
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s new podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2XG71SmYPP80MxutbI1UyO
