Kenya Moore

Background

Kenya Summer Moore Daly was born on January 24, 1971, to young parents Patricia Moore and Ronald Grant in Detroit. Kenya was raised by her father’s grandmother and aunt after her mother abandoned her at three days old. Moore told how her mother refused to acknowledge her existence and would pretend she didn’t see her: “Even if present in the same room with other people and family, she pretends that I simply don’t exist, that I’m invisible.”

Moore began her modeling career when she was 14 years old. She was the January cover girl for Chicago-based “Ebony Man” magazine in 1992. She was also a model for the Ebony Fashion Fair cosmetic line.

When Moore was 16 she was a victim of domestic violence from her 26-year-old boyfriend who, in Moore’s words, “tormented me mentally and physically and once nearly killed me by putting me into the hospital from attacking and stabbing me.” Moore attended and graduated from high school in 1989 from Cass Technical High School. At the age of 22, Moore won the title of ‘Miss Michigan USA (1993)’ and then the title of ‘Miss USA’ in the same year, becoming the second African American woman in history to win Miss USA. After high school, Kenya Moore attended Wayne State University with psychology and communication as majors.

Moore is known for her role in “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” which has been airing since 2008. She was also a member of the cast of “The Celebrity Apprentice 7” and a contestant on “Dancing with the Stars” in 2021. She launched her own hair care product line and exercise video. She starred and acted in many films and television shows over the years such as “Deliver Us From Eva” (2003), “Senseless” (1998), and “The Steve Harvey Show”, a 1996 sitcom.