Kandi Burruss Reveals Her Relationship Rule for Keeping Marriage to Husband Todd Tucker Strong (Exclusive)

"We push each other," the reality star and producer tells PEOPLE of their mutual “work hard” and “play hard” mentality

Amy Sussman/Getty Kandi Burruss at the ESSENCE Black Women In Hollywood Awards on Feb. 27, 2025

Amy Sussman/Getty

Kandi Burruss at the ESSENCE Black Women In Hollywood Awards on Feb. 27, 2025

Kandi Burruss is opening up about the glue that holds her and husband Todd Tucker together.

While speaking exclusively to PEOPLE at the ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 27, The Real Housewives of Atlanta alum revealed that the pair — who will mark 11 years of marriage in April — share a similar approach to balancing work and fun.

“I think with my husband and I, we support each other's dreams, and we push each other,” Burruss says. “We always have fun. We have us the good old time. Now I work hard but I play hard, so I think we are both like that. And really love family and all of that. So that's what keeps us connected.”

Burruss, 48, has discussed her dynamic with Tucker, 51, in the past. She previously told PEOPLE that her husband — whom she met in 2011 when he was working as a producer on the set of RHOA — is her “teammate.”

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"We have a real understanding of each other," she told PEOPLE at the Ebony Power 100 Gala in Los Angeles in 2022.

Related: Kandi Burruss Departs The Real Housewives of Atlanta Ahead of Season 16: 'I'm Going to Take a Break'

Paras Griffin/Getty  Kandi Burruss and Todd Tucker in March 2024

Paras Griffin/Getty

Kandi Burruss and Todd Tucker in March 2024

"He pushes me in a way that I can't say I had never experienced before being with him. I really feel like he's my teammate in life,” she added at the time. “We have intertwined our wants and desires. We have all these dreams, and sometimes, I'll be all out of the box, but he'll still be like, 'Okay babe, let's do it.’ “

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“A lot of women [...] end up putting their wants and desires to the side to support who they're with" she continued. "I think that's what makes it work because sometimes I feel like — especially when you are a woman who has dreams and goals — you don't always meet a man who is going to support your dreams and goals and keep pushing you.”

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Emma McIntyre/Variety via Getty Kandi Burruss and Todd Tucker in November 2023

Emma McIntyre/Variety via Getty

Kandi Burruss and Todd Tucker in November 2023

Related: Kandi Burruss Says Her Daughter Was Also Bullied by Bravo Fans: 'They Take Things Too Far'

At Thursday’s ESSENCE event, Burruss told PEOPLE that she’s currently juggling several high-profile projects.

“Right now, I'm producer of Othello on Broadway starring Denzel Washington [and] Jake Gyllenhaal. [It] started Monday of this week and we're going all the way to June 8. And I would have to say it's going great.”

“Also, music-wise, I'm producing my girls PsiRyn, a girl group I have right now,” she explains. “What's so great about that — they're the first girl group in 22 years to have the number on R&B Airplay. [...] They're signed to me. And this is my first time taking another artist under my wing, under my label to this level.”

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“So for me, that's one of the biggest accomplishments right now to take a group that people didn't really know and taking them to the next level,” she concludes. “Because right now, I keep telling people it's a time for women in film, this is also a time for women in music.”

Read the original article on People