VH1 Exclusive: Evelyn Opens Up About Her Miscarriage, Talks Returning To Reality With Shaniece
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Evelyn Lozada recently returned to reality TV with a new series Livin' Lozada on OWN costarring her adult daughter Shaniece Hairston. Meanwhile, Ev returned to Basketball Wives this season to gossip with and counsel her old pal Shaunie O'Neal and the fans going wild.
VH1 had a chat with Evelyn (and Shaniece!) about returning to the genre that made her a household name, what it's like working with her daughter, and if she regrets sharing her miscarriage on television.
Tell me about Livin' Lozada and the choice to return to reality TV. Why now?
Evelyn Lozada: Umm, I thought, I'm just gonna be honest, I thought I was done with the reality TV. Hi, VH1, I love you by the way! [Laughs] I've had some amazing moments on your network. But, yes, I thought that I was actually done with reality TV until I got the opportunity and an offer to do my own reality show on OWN and I decided to do it because you know my life has changed.
I took almost two and a half years off of my life just to kind of really be able to focus on the things that I needed work on which is myself and my family and when the opportunity came with OWN I thought that it was just a perfect fit as far as where my life is at. I felt like I was going to give the world a glimpse of my life. I did it to really inspire women that have been through some similar situations and to show that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, especially after something so tragic, with the whole domestic violence situation. I think so many times women just give up and think that life is over, and that's really why I decided to do it.
What side of Evelyn do you want the fans to see now? Have you changed a lot?
EL: I want them to get to know and see the real Evelyn, me as a mom with not only Shaniece, but me being a mom after 21 years with Leo. How I am at home and just like the real day to day whether it's the struggles in certain things that I've dealt with during filming, which was the miscarriage was one of those things and just what my family life looks like. I feel like the world doesn't know that side of me and I'm happy that I'm able to show how I am really as a mom.
Was there any hesitation with filming or talking about the miscarriage so openly on the show?
EL: No and yes. I will say that my feed was flooded with people congratulating me [after I announced my pregnancy on episode one] and that was a little difficult but no, I think even when I did Basketball Wives, I've always been very open about everything. I found out that I was pregnant [and] literally the very next day I was gonna start filming. Everybody was super excited and then you know obviously what happened, happened. So, no I wasn't worried about it. I felt like this is my life this is my reality, this is my story, and I wanted to share it with the world just because it was so real and so raw. When you have a miscarriage, especially for women, I feel like most women it's something that you deal with alone and I wanted to share that with women just to know that they're not alone, in a sense.
Shaniece, how difficult was filming while your mom was going through the miscarriage and having the camera there in your private conversation?
Shaniece Hairston: It was very difficult because it's like we may be having those conversations but the cameras are staring at us so it does make a huge difference. We just had to open up a bit which I felt like was harder for me to open up a bit than my mom because she's already been through this in the past but I open up a bit on the show, you'll see.
Evelyn, you're doing this show with your daughter, do you worry about her growing up in the spotlight and making her way into this business?
EL: I think that Shaniece has it together. She has a good head on her shoulders and, of course, when you're in the spotlight there's the naysayers and the haters and that's natural but I feel like this is what she's supposed to be doing, especially with modeling now with Wilhelmina and just really taking things to another level so I don't worry at all. She's a lady; she knows how to handle herself so I'm not too worried. I don't feel like she's going to get caught up in "Hollywood" and just be like this crazy child.
And for you Shaniece, what's it like jumping into the reality TV world?
SH: I'm not gonna say the show is easy but I feel like because it was so genuine and it was family-based it didn't seem like anything too bad. As of right now, this is what I know so I'm enjoying it. I'm enjoying it a lot.
What has the reaction been from fans on social media? They can always be brutally honest, good and bad.
EL: You know what? I was just saying the other day that I probably have gotten three negative tweets, which is huge. I'm so used to like my feed being positive, negative, you know, but it's been pretty positive especially with the last episode I mean I was looking at my Instagram page today and the comments are just, so many women posting comments about, "Thank you for being so open about your miscarriage and everything that just happened in your life" so that's always good to know and that's the reason why I decided to do the show to really just, I just wanted to do it differently this time. I'm like, Look when I retire from reality TV, I want to know that I did something positive.
SH: I would say I think people are surprised with me because it was basically my introduction into reality TV. I think they’re surprised with the fact that I like Buddhas and yoga and positivity and all of these things that people weren't expecting because I do believe there are a lot of misconceptions.
Evelyn, what will we get to see in terms of your relationship? Would you ever do a spinoff with Carl?
EL: Yeah, I don't know if the wedding would be - listen, if you know Carl, Carl's very private and he always says, "You're the reality star, I play baseball. He doesn't really understand my world but he's supportive. As far as a spinoff, I don't know. I guess that's something that we'll deal with when it comes but yeah I guess the Mr. would have to be on board with something like that.
Are you guys in the process of wedding planning right now? Would you ever do a wedding on television?
EL: Initially we were gonna do it last year and then I ended up getting pregnant and there was a lot going on, the season started and we really wanted to just do something privately and we're still discussing that.
What can we expect from Livin' Lozada this season?
EL: I think one of the things is that I ended up hiring a private detective. We don't know who my mom's father is, my grandfather. That was something that I really wanted to do for my mom and I feel like her not having a dad has affected her life and so I guess you'll get to see how that turns out trying to find him after 60 years because my mom has no information on her birth certificate.
SH: And Tinder
EL: [Laughs] Yeah, my mom's on Tinder. She told me on camera, I had no idea that my mother was on Tinder, I'm like "What the hell?"
What is something you learned about each other from doing a reality show together?
SH: She cries a lot but we already knew that.
EL: Shut up.
SH: Umm, what did you learn?
EL: : [It's] not that I didn't think my family didn't love each other but we're genuinely close and we love each other so so much so it's like, not that we didn't know that before but I feel like filming and kind of grinding and working together, it was cool to be able to do this with her.
SH: Oh yeah it was the first time that we worked together. Actually, this is the first time I've worked in life [Laughs]. It's the first time we've worked together, she's enjoying it.
EL: Patience. I mean you need to have patience with this and especially filming a reality show, this was her first rodeo she was sometimes kind of just like -- I'm very open, it is what it is, but she's a little more guarded. You know, just to be able to be so open I think was a little challenging for her and she's really funny.
SH: I know that I was funny. Everyone else learned I was funny