Tamera Mowry-Housley Revealed the Truth Behind Why She Left ‘The Real'
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Tamera Mowry-Housley is getting real about The Real — and revealing how the show played a significant role in compromising her mental health over the years.
The 44-year-old Sister, Sister and Twitches star — who co-hosted The Real for seven years alongside celebrities like Loni Love and Jeanne Mai before an abrupt exit in 2020 — recently opened up about her life in a new personal memoir, You Should Sit Down for This: A Memoir About Life, Wine, and Cookies. Within its pages, she described her time on the show as "one of the unhappiest times" of her life.
"I suffered horrible anxiety, I'd throw up in my dressing room (and) I drank way too much," she wrote.
As longtime fans of The Real may recall, Tamera first announced she was leaving the show in July 2020, describing her decision as "bittersweet" in an Instagram post.
"For seven years, my home and my heart has been at The Real," she shared in 2020. "The friendships that I've made there will last a lifetime, and the people that I've had the blessing to interview have changed my life for the better. I'm so proud of what all the ladies and I have accomplished there, including two well-deserved NAACP Image Awards and a Daytime Emmy. However, all good things must come to an end, and it's with a bittersweet smile that I announce that I am moving on from The Real."
More than two years have passed, and it seems that Tamera is finally discussing the real reason for her departure. In the new memoir, Tamera tells readers she felt "trapped" while filming the show — but that her management team pushed her to stay onboard at The Real, and that they couldn't guarantee her another job if she left.
“That life is grinding,” she told TODAY. “A lot of people don’t understand how hard it is to actually do a daytime talk show. One, you have to have so much energy at the butt crack of dawn, like all the time. I can remember there was one season I did not remember at all, and it’s because I just had my baby. And I was nursing her and I just didn’t sleep.”
Besides facing relatable challenges as a mother to two children, now 9-year-old Aden and 7-year-old Ariah, Tamera says she's experienced consistent anxiety after commentary and backlash over her union with former Fox News correspondent Adam Housley.
After Adam faced racism accusations due to his affiliation with the network, Tamera made headlines in 2018 when she defended her husband on an episode of The Real. In her new book, the actress describes having to put on "mental boxing gloves" during this time.
"I was not prepared for people taking something that you've said that you did not mean at all and twisting it, turning it around, and then making assumptions based on that, then taking things out of context," she told PopSugar. "Who does that?"
But Tamera asserts that this experience ultimately led to growth. "I've learned boundaries," she shared with PopSugar. "You can set mental boundaries as well. I had to learn to say, actually being kind and loving is being wise and setting boundaries. My mental gloves are not going to let someone who doesn't know me, who has no intention of being kind — their main motive is just to be shady. I'm not going to let that affect me anymore. I'm not going to let that define me."
Since leaving The Real, Tamera has found new success at the Hallmark Channel, where she landed a deal in 2020 to star in and executive produce original films for the network, according to Deadline. In fact, this holiday season, she's slated to star in two upcoming Hallmark movies; Girlfriendship and Inventing the Christmas Prince.
But there's one thing that fans are probably wondering: Is Tamera going to be appearing on another talk show any time soon?
"It has to be special," the actress told PopSugar. "It has to be uplifting. It has to be powerful in the way that we are really inspiring, helping people's lives. Who knows?! Maybe with my sister."
We're definitely crossing our fingers!
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