Love & Marriage: Huntsville’s Maurice and Kimmi Scott Give Update on Her Cancer Journey

Shortly after Love & Marriage: Huntsville star Kimmi Scott found two lumps in her right breast in June 2022, she was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer, the most aggressive form of the disease. And after months of chemotherapy and radiation, she tells Us Weekly exclusively she’s “starting to get back to normal.”

“I feel great,” says Kimmi. “I'm finished with all of my treatments. We had about 23 weeks of chemotherapy and then surgery we had [at] beginning of December [2022], and I had my last radiation treatment April 13. So things are starting to get back to normal.”

Although Kimmi, 34, admits she’s “still slow,” she’s starting to see more progress.

“It takes me a long time getting ready in the morning, but that's kind of par for the course as I understand it, and that it'll take a little bit longer for me to feel like [the] old Kimmi,” she tells Us.

Stars Who Beat Cancer: Sharon Osbourne, Ewan McGregor and More

“My hair is growing back!” she adds. “I'm getting a little hair. That's a big thing for me! When I started seeing my hair grow back, that was major for me.”

Kimmi, who’s also a registered nurse, reveals she’s having some “setbacks” with her breathing, but she’s not letting it stop her from making a full recovery.

“I kind of feel like I might've had some underlying issues that the treatments kind of made a little bit worse,” she says. “So I do have that one little obstacle that I kind of have to deal with. But physically, my body feels great.”

Kimmi explains that some patients take “anywhere from about nine months to a year to feel like your old self” after treatment. “I don't feel like my old self, but I don't hurt anywhere. I'm not in pain. I'm not fatigued or anything like that,” she notes. “I don't feel poorly … but it's not as great as it used to be. So I'm still kind of working on that, but I'm not nauseous or sick or anything. … I look better than I do on paper. Some of my lab work is still just trying to catch up.”

Her husband, Maurice Scott, has been leaning on a higher power for support.

“It's been a real challenge. It's been a test of my faith actually,” says Maurice, 43, adding that the pair just celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary. “Because I have to lean on God for a lot of the things that I need throughout this process because as a natural protector, provider, a husband is supposed to do everything he can to make sure that his wife's in the best possible position to thrive and enjoy life.”

Now that Kimmi has completed her cancer treatments, Maurice tells Us, “She has her smile back, she has her laugh back. She's getting her energy and everything back.”

The reality TV couple even purchased a bike so Kimmi can ease back into her exercise routine.

“We haven't quite used it,” Maurice admits. “It's one [thing] that the doctor has stressed is that getting into a good exercise routine can also help with the recovery process. So I'm a husband coach.”

Kimmi’s diagnosis has impacted her life in more ways than one, even making her question being a part of Love & Marriage: Huntsville.

Couples Who Survived the Reality TV Curse (So Far) 

“There was a moment in time where I considered not going forward with the show, and Maurice was a big part of me deciding that this platform was a good platform to reach other people in regards to how African Americans by definition are disproportionately affected,” Kimmi tells Us. “It affects everybody and cancer has no mile marker on a person, and that's not my implication. But as far as the detrimental effects to African Americans, it's disproportionate.”

Studies show that while breast cancer incidence rates among Black and white women are close, mortality rates are markedly different, with Black women having a 40 percent higher death rate from breast cancer. Among women under 50, the disparity is even greater: While young women have a higher incidence of aggressive cancers, young Black women have double the mortality rate of young white women.

“And most of that is because of the lack of mammograms, cost of mammograms, and those kinds of things that I really came to terms with was apparently going to be my platform to have to discuss and try to get out there,” Kimmi says. “And so I think that was a huge plus.”

But the pair have also faced the downsides of fame.

“Sometimes we can have fans that are a little too spirited and sometimes they're a little too invested with the negative aspects of the show,” notes Maurice, hinting at the backlash he received for comments he made describing Kimmi as “suffering” through sex during her chemo treatments.

In an interview with reality TV producer Carlos King, Maurice said, “There’s a difference between wants and needs. And I’m a person who actually needs sex, not a person who wants sex.”

“I think that probably was my greatest failure of life,” Maurice tells Us. “Just because the nature of the sensitivity of the situation, the love I had for my wife and the embarrassment factor … I think that the information and the way that I shared the information, the casual nature in which I used the information was careless and it was hurtful, and it's wrong.”

He continues: “And anybody that's went through this situation, they understand that at all times you should be protecting the individuals that are close to you and the ones that you love. And I didn't do that at that time.”

Maurice has found “one good thing” in the controversy, referring to it as “the mirror effect.” He says, “Fans miss nothing…and you can take criticism and feedback, whichever way you want to put it, it's [an] opportunity for growth and conversation.”

Kimmi calls his comments an “epic fail.”

From ‘Ice Loves Coco’ to ‘Married to Jonas’ — See Which Celebrity Couples Once Had Reality Shows 

“We had a conversation and I said the same thing. I felt unprotected,” she tells Us. “I felt like as a husband that wasn't your job. That wasn't what you were doing at that particular time. And so we had to kind of go through it. I mean, our relationship is stronger than that. If we can't endure a misstep, then there's a bigger problem.”

Maurice chimes in: “I have a whole new appreciation for just life in and of itself and the ability to wake up for tomorrow. So some of the downs that naturally come with life, they don't take me down as much anymore. And the highs are so much higher just because we get a chance to share it together. So that's been really rewarding for me.”

“I know that my husband loves me,” adds Kimmi. “I know he can speak out of turn, but I know what I married … and I know his heart.”

Now, it’s all about getting “back on track.”

“I'm better. I'm not sick. I want to talk about the good stuff,” says Kimmi, who runs a successful real estate company alongside Maurice in Huntsville. “We’re open to all kinds of ideas that will benefit our community.”

And the second half of this Love & Marriage season, she says, is “unbelievable.”

“I'm feeling better, so I get to be feisty,” Kimmi tells Us. “I don't have to be at home. I don't have to be just pampered and taken care of, so I get to kind of be back to Kimmi.”