According to thebellereport.com
Mary Mary Gets Turned Up on Season 3 of Reality Show
New York, NY — Mary Mary is back with season three of their hit self-titled WeTV reality show. Cameras followed the gospel duo as their lives were turned upside down by a spouse’s infidelity, taking a break from creating new music together and splitting from their longtime manager. Filming was especially hard with the passing of their father Eddie Atkins from cancer. Erica Campbell said that although on past seasons they had a difficult relationship with their dad, they made peace before he passed away.
“While we were upset that he had gotten remarried and we would’ve loved to have been there, and we wanted him there for the birth of Tina [Campbell]’s last son, when he got sick none of that mattered anymore,” the 41-year-old tells ABC News Radio. “And we all went to where he was in Fresno and had a chance to be around his bedside and let him know what we thought of him and how much we loved him and respected him.”
“We were spoiled little girls,” Erica continues. “We treat our fathers like errand boys and servants. …Did my daddy buy me everything I want? No. But my daddy taught me everything that I needed to know.”
This season was also particularly tough for Tina, who revealed last year in an Ebony magazine article that her husband, American Idol drummer Teddy Campbell, was unfaithful to her. The 39-year-old said she learned of her husband’s transgressions while on a much needed break from recording with her sister.
“I got to find out that my husband was unfaithful for countless years of our marriage and through half these babies that I done had and all that kind of stuff,” Tina says. “I had to fight for peace. I had to fight for love. I had to fight for forgiveness. I had to fight for my sanity.”
“I had to fight for my willingness to live and to let others live,” she deadpans.
Still, Tina did ask her husband if it was OK to reveal the news in Ebony. “I asked him what he thought,” Tina explains. “And in that moment, if he wouldn’t have wanted me to do it, I probably would not have. But if he would’ve caught me on a bad day, I would’ve been like, ‘First of all, I do what I wanna do.’ I was just going back and forth.”
And on top of all of the personal drama, the Marys also split from longtime manager Mitchell Solarek, who later sued the two for wages and commission owed. “We actually can’t talk about the lawsuit but I will say this, we have since communicated, and we’re OK and he’s OK,” Erica clarifies.
Due to all of the drama, Tina, as an executive producer of their WeTV reality show, considered shutting down filming. “I had the power to show up or not show up. I could’ve said, ‘Hey! Sue me I’m never coming back again’ because in true Tina likeness people would’ve expected that,” she says.
“She said it actually, but she changed her mind,” Erica clarifies. “She’s like, ‘I’m done. I’m not filming no more. We’re stopping it at six episodes. I’m good.’ And so we had to have some conversations and then she came back and she was like, ‘Okay, we’ll finish.'”
The two decided to focus on the one silver-lining besides their children — Erica’s budding solo career. It’s proved successful so far as Erica even nabbed a Grammy Award nomination for her debut single, “A Little More Jesus,” which Tina co-wrote. The song will be featured on Erica’s forthcoming album, Help, out March 25.
“It was a little challenging and exciting all at the same time,” Erica says of going solo. “It pushed me in certain areas that I wasn’t used to being pushed in. It required more of me. It required me to pay attention to myself. You have to take full ownership for everything and I’m learning to do that and it’s really exciting.”
