*Gizelle Bryant isn’t eager to date another pastor after her divorce from Jamal Bryant.
“The Real Housewives of Potomac” star says life as a church first lady was isolating, and she now wants to live on her own terms. She shared her perspective during an Oct. 22 visit to “The Breakfast Club.” Looking back on her time beside the pulpit, she described the pressure that comes with the position.
“It is isolating,” she said. “There is a perception of perfection, and I don’t want to say you have to lean into it, but they are very much looking up to you.”
The scrutiny felt familiar to someone who has built a career on camera. “They’re very much picking apart your life, a little bit like reality TV,” she explained. “You do want to be able to be your full self, and as a first lady of a Black church, I don’t think you can be your full self to your congregation.”
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In her view, letting the congregation see everything carries real consequences for the church. “You’re gonna get judged. You’re gonna get picked apart. People gonna leave,” she said. “You don’t want that; you don’t want to do that to your husband’s congregation. You want them to stay.”
These days, Gizelle wants room to grow without a label attached. “At this time in my life, I need to live my life,” she said. “You’re not going to put me in a box or package.”
Being known as a “pastor’s wife” or “pastor’s girlfriend” no longer fits who she is. “Gizelle is out here living Gizelle, whatever that means,” she said.
Her love life hasn’t gone quiet, either. In a Bravo Insider interview earlier this year, before “The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls’ Trip: Roaring 20th” debuted, she gave a candid update while keeping her partners anonymous.
“Gizelle’s dating. Well, no, I’m lying. Not super dating,” she said at the time. “What I’m doing is, I’m spending time with friends with benefits. So we keep them on the inside. We don’t bring ’em outside.”
Jamal remains a big part of her world. The pair spent seven years as husband and wife before their 2009 divorce, and a later attempt to rekindle things didn’t last. They still share three daughters, Grace, Adore and Angel, and remain on good terms.
Speaking with “Good Morning Washington” in November 2022, she said, “Jamal and I are best of friends as we’ve always been [with] co-parenting [and] all of that. I mean, I just feel like I’m at a great place in my life, personally.”
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