Dr. Kendra From "Married To Medicine" Talks Incident With Dr. Heavenly

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BOSSIP: With you and Lia Dias both being new to the show, what was it like having another person in your same boat?

Dr. Kendra: When you get a group of women, you’re going to have issues probably with each and every one of them, but what’s special about Lia is she’s a great communicator. She and I share a lot of qualities as far as like I’m not afraid to confront any situation and I’m not afraid to talk about it, to reconcile, to really get down to the nuts and bolts. I think my respect grew for her when I learned she was a person like me who will handle things straight on, no sugar coating, just straight up this is who I am and this is what I said, so she seems to be made from the same cloth as me, so yeah it helped to have somebody that you could get through things with.

BOSSIP: There’s this interesting dynamic in your group between the women who are doctors and the women who are married to doctors and you are both and you also have the added complication of going back to the workforce after just having your first child, what was that like for you?

Dr. Kendra: Now that I’m further out from it, when we were hanging out and doing all of those things it was a really unique time for me because I’ve never been that way before. I’ve never had a baby, I’ve never not worked. We just moved. I have a new body. My husband is turning all dad on me. I’m discovering all this stuff in front of America. I have no reference. I’m going into new things. New levels and different parts of my life and I’m living my life out loud. Sometimes I don’t know what to expect from myself. I don’t know how I’m going to react, I don’t know how I’m going to feel. I’m just all over the place. It was a special time to see myself go through all that and sharing it with the girls, new friends. Everything was new. Sharing it, sharing my vulnerabilities, sharing my insecurities, with a new group of girls and sharing it for the world. Taking one for the team. You put me in any category I’m probably there. Taking it for new moms, taking it for career women, taking it for doctor’s wives, I’m there. Hopefully people will roll with it.

BOSSIP: Do you have a favorite memory, anything that stands out from the season?

Dr. Kendra: Like I told you when I went to Jazmin’s party in Hollywood Hills, that was my first time out, so that stands out, for more than one reason… The second was the first time I’d been away from Hart and Hobart, which was when we went to Palm Springs our Siscation. So that stands out. I’d never been away from my son, and I’m currently breastfeeding. That was the first time leaving Hobart with the baby so that was huge for me. The first time I got sleep. I didn’t hear Hart crying. That vacation I realized, I was super duper sleep deprived because that first night I got a good night’s sleep, was in Palm Springs. In my mind, I heard Hart crying. I had to wake up like ‘We are in Palm Springs, there is no way!’

BOSSIP: On the first episode you reveal your last name is Cuban. Do you identify as Afro-Latina?

Dr. Kendra: I’m half Vietnamese and I’m half black. My mother is Vietnamese. I say black and if someone wants to get to know me, if someone wants to know my roots, it’s Cuban, the black part is Afro-Cuban, but I just say Black, that just goes to being viewed in America. If someone is close to me and you want to dig deeper, why I’m this way, or that way I’ll tell you, ‘You know what, my mother is Vietnamese, my father is Afro-Cuban.’ Bottom line, at the end of the day I’m representing for Black women. Everybody is mixed, but at the same time I grew up with a huge Vietnamese influence because my mother and my grandmother who are Vietnamese, so I can’t deny that. So I am all things. When I go to work or as I’m dealing with the world, people see me as Black so that’s as far as I’ll go for people I don’t know. But I’m mixed like many other people living in the world.

BOSSIP: We wanted to ask about being in an interracial marriage – in front of cameras. Did you brace yourself for people’s opinions?

Dr. Kendra: People think, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re with a Chinese man.’ But we eat similar food — it’s not farfetched. My mom taught him how to cook my grandmother’s recipes, so he’s cooking Vietnamese food and Chinese food and American food and now he’s getting into soul food. Those who don’t know him, they look at him, because ethnically he’s very Chinese and I don’t look half Asian, so I’m letting all the black girls know, ‘Hey you could cross some color lines. If it’s love, it’s love.’ People are interested. You have to point out, what’s really interesting about the combination of me and Hobart, because remember, I’m half Vietnamese, so all day every day you’ll see a black man with an Asian woman. That combination is common. A lot of my friends are half Filipino and half black. I think what makes me and Hobart interesting is that I’m a black woman, because black women don’t really go out their race. I’m the product of interracial love. Me and Hobart are interesting because it’s flipped. No one is shocked that my father is with my mother. I’m like ‘Hey girl, go with the love.’

BOSSIP: We see Dr. Imani dealing with marital issues this season, it’s not something uncommon for couples to experience issues after welcoming the cameras in. Did you and Hobart have any concerns about doing reality and having your relationship be put under a microscope?

Dr. Kendra: People tell you about med school, they tell you going into residency, you have to do this to prepare, you gotta do that to prepare, you’re not going to get any sleep, the first day of residency somebody is going to tell you when you have time you better eat, sh** and sleep because you don’t know the next time you’re going to be able to do those things. That was the first lecture the Chief Resident gave me. You can be as prepared as you want to be, but it’s not until you actually go through the process. Me and Hobart are very much aware of how things get broken down. Me and Hobart were in residency together so we have weathered storms together, but we’ve never done it out loud. Living life out loud. We’re still going to have arguments, we’re still going to get pissed. It’s not over yet, so I pray. I pray for us because you never know what’s going to happen. I’m being honest with you because I told myself if I’m going to do this I’m going to be honest. It doesn’t matter how many people prep us going through it. I’m not saying it’s been easy for us — we have issues. I’m just going to stay prayed up. That’s all I can do.

Gotta love the realness. Dr. Kendra holds no cut cards. “Married To Medicine L.A.” airs Sundays at 9/8c on Bravo