Phaedra Parks says it was an ‘honor’ to direct Rayshard Brooks’ funeral.
via Page Six:
“The Real Housewives of Atlanta” alum, who is also a licensed funeral director and mortician, was asked by the Brooks family to direct the funeral for the 27-year-old black man, who was fatally shot by Atlanta police on June 12.
“It was an honor to serve the family, to help them at that very hard moment,” Parks, 46, told Page Six on Monday.
“They have four children,” she continued. “I’m a mother of two beautiful African American boys and I can only imagine having to bury a spouse and knowing you’ve got these beautiful children and you have this expectation of raising in a two-parent household.”
In the wake of recent Black Lives Matter protests, Parks, who shares sons Ayden, 10, and Dylan, 7, with her ex-husband Apollo Nida, noted that she has had to have some difficult discussions with her boys.
“I’m very honest with them about what’s going on right now,” she said. “They’re very aware, but it’s very scary for me as a mother of two African American boys to know the injustices that happen every day because you hear the stories.”
Parks added: “I have always raised them up to be very aware of the African American culture, but to understand even though we live a very affluent lifestyle there is definitely racism, unfortunately, and they cannot do what their white counterparts can do, even though they attend the same schools, they live right next door to one another.”
In addition to her services as a funeral director, Parks has kept up her reality show bona fides, currently starring on We TV’s “Marriage Bootcamp: Hip Hop Edition” alongside her boyfriend, Medina Islam.
Parks said doing the show was “transformative” and helped both her and Islam improve their relationship.
“It gave us both a lot of insight and knowledge on what marriage would look like for us,” she revealed. “I don’t want to give the show away, but it was definitely extremely helpful. We came out knowing we had both grown individually and as a couple.”
We haven’t heard of Phaedra directing not na’an funeral since she’s been absent from ‘RHOA’ — don’t think it’s lost on us the timing of her decision to host Rayshard Brook’s funeral and the promotion of her new season of ‘Marriage Boot Camp.’
