‘Married to Medicine’ Star Dr. Jackie Defends Controversial Comments About Overweight Black Women

Photo Credit: Bravo
Photo Credit: Bravo

By: Amanda Anderson-Niles

Last night, season two of Bravo’s new hit show “Married to Medicine” premiered after RHOA, and the show had plenty of controversial moments already.

For one thing, people took to Twitter in large numbers to give their thoughts on Dr. Jackie’s comments regarding overweight black women and heart disease. It didn’t take long for Dr. Jackie to become a trending topic.

For those of you that may have missed it, Dr. Jackie couldn’t hold her tongue when a woman told her and Dr. Heavenly at a bowling alley gathering that she was proof that an “overweight” black woman could be happy and healthy without becoming skinny. That’s when Dr. Jackie shut her down and told her that obesity is directly linked to the high number of black women being diagnosed with heart disease.

That of course led to Dr. Jackie and Dr. Heavenly having a face-off on the subject, especially since Dr. Heavenly used to be overweight herself:

 

 

Regardless, some people felt Dr. Jackie was rude to the woman and they felt her comments were inappropriate to make at a bowling alley shindig, but the doctor took to her Twitter account to defend her actions. She tweets (read from top to bottom):

dr. jackie twitter

 

35 comments

  1. YeSSSS UB! Thank you for starting to write about this show! It’s a really great show and I’m so addicted already. But on topic, I think Dr. Jackie was just telling the truth. We embrace obesity too much in our culture and we need to stop!

  2. It was my first time watching the show last night, and I must say it was more interesting than RHOA. Kenya’s whole situation with her dog made me so sad, so it was nice to laugh again with this show. I agree with Dr. Jackie because no matter how we slice it, a lot of us are dying from heat disease. We are not taking care of ourselves and it’s killing us more than breast cancer is. That’s scary.

  3. A lot of us are in denial about obesity. We keep trying to make it seem like it’s cute and it’s ok for it to be the norm for us. But it’s not healthy. I was very big and I decided to lose over 35 pounds because it got to the point where my arm would go numb. It freaked me out! Heart disease also runs in my family so I had to take it seriously. I’m still working towards losing more weight, but I defiantly understand how touchy this subject is for us.

  4. The truth hurts. Yes, I know it may have hurt that woman’s feelings, but maybe it saved her life too. I am not down with the whole obesity is ok bandwagon. It’s not! It will take you out early if you don’t get it under control.

  5. Why were people mad at a doctor for dropping some knowledge? Obesity kills. That’s a fact. But I wish we would also stress that everyone should strive to have healthier lives. Being skinny doesn’t always mean you’re healthy either. We all have to do better.

      1. Really because I saw it a mile away! Mariah is really full of herself and that’s the recipe for some ruined friendships!

  6. Yeah I can’t with these doctor’s wives fighting and acting like hood rats. And of course Bravo made sure to fire the only white woman too. They ain’t slick.

    1. It was my first time last night and I enjoyed it. I think I need to watch season one though so I can get a better understanding of the relationships. But it was entertaining from the first second. It really was better than RHOA was last night.

    1. Girl I have not been playing I joined crossfit even though I feel like dying every time I go lol it is helping me. I’m determined to see these abs lol.

  7. Ok everyone was tweeting about this last night. I think I might have to start watching this, especially since RHOA is almost over for the season.

  8. I have never watched this show. But that lady was rude basically saying that the dentist wasn’t a doctor. She sounds stupid but anyways you can’t attack people when you are trying to get through to them. Being skinny doesn’t make you healthy. Black women and all women need to get healthy period skinny,thick,fat period. My sister is 5″10 130 lbs athletic built and she was damn near a diabetic a couple of years ago but you would never know. Everybody just needs to get healthier period.

  9. Jackie told the truth and I’m glad she brought all of this to the forefront. We need to be more honest with ourselves about the effects of being overweight. It’s unhealthy. Hopefully that woman she got together didn’t see what Jackie said as disrespect. It came from a good place. But I’d love for them to also talk about other health issues that plague black people…this isn’t it and all of it isn’t tied to being obese.

  10. I bet they dragged the hell out of this doctor on twitter too. Black folks do not like people to tell us to lose weight. We need to believe obesity is ok (rolls eyes). lol. IJS!

  11. I’ve never watched this show before. But this clip was pretty interesting. I’ll start tuning in.

  12. I agree with Dr. Jackie. Everyone needs to be cautious about the health issues that come along with obesity, but as Gabriella and others have already mentioned, heart disease/obesity aren’t the only issues that plague the black community. We also need to talk more about diabetes too and even high blood pressure. I see a lot of that in my family and it takes people out. We all need to rethink what we’re eating and get more serious about exercising, big AND skinny.

  13. It’s not always WHAT is said, it’s the delivery. Why has it become okay for people to be so disrespectful towards one another? Unfortunately, a lot of good advice is never received because of its foul delivery.

  14. Jackie has had breast cancer TWICE. So it’s changed her in a lot of ways and so she takes all of this very seriously. She wasn’t trying to hurt anyone or tear that woman down. She was trying to save her life. The truth isn’t always what we want to hear or said when we want to hear it.

    1. I respect everyone’s point of view and I never said the message was wrong or the issue shouldn’t be addressed. I’m saying that you get better results when you speak the truth gently. My grandmother told me a long time ago “you catch more flies with honey than vinegar!” Manners still matter to me!

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