'Married To Medicine': Dr. Jackie Talks Season 11, Marriage To Curtis And More-quang

Last season, you guys had two additional cast members, Phaedra Parks and Sweet Tea. How would you describe the new additions to the cast in Season 10?

Sweet Tea is getting used to the girls. I mean she was new. She was young, newly married and she’s green. She was green. She was sweet. Phaedra is old school. She’s an OG. You know how Phaedra. She came in with faces. Phaedra talks with her face. So she’s interesting.

So let’s talk about the ongoing shade that has been happening for season upon season between your two good girlfriends, Dr. Heavenly and Dr. Simone. How does it impact your friendship between the two women and how do you stay neutral?

We have grown so much over the last few seasons. You guys will be so proud of us. It’s not impacting me at all. As I’ve told the world, I’ve got two great friends who both bring something different to my life and I love them both. I love them differently, but I’m not impacted anymore. They both know I am not going to take sides with either person unless they’re right. If someone is right, I am all about getting things straightened out. 

There were some things that were addressed in your marriage and I’m glad you guys have overcome that, but it does seem that Curtis has decided to take a step back from the show. How would you guys describe your marriage today?

We are probably better. Not probably, we are better than we’ve ever been before. Curtis is actually busy. He started some new ventures and it takes him away from the house and I love it because he makes money. So I don’t think he’s purposely taken a step back from the show. I think there were times that he couldn’t be there, but I enjoy Curtis now more than I ever before. We’ve learned to be transparent. We’re honest, we can agree to disagree. We both know if you trade in the car, you are still gonna get a car. So keep the car you got and make it so much better. Curtis is Curtis. Husbands are husbands. But I enjoy my husband, and he’s a good person to me. We just have gotten to the pointwhere  we can laugh together. He’s accepted the fact that I am a busy person. I enjoy being busy and I love the fact that he now sees what busy really means.

Now, I also want to address something that was unfortunate from last season. We won’t get too deep into it, but there was a controversy about comments that resurfaced online about you being in the field and Black women who were pregnant. Do you feel as if that has been cleared up?  And do you feel as if you have been forgiven for that?

I would like to think so, because I definitely asked from a heartfelt place. But what I say about that [is] in order to grow and learn, you have to stop and listen. And so I heard the fact and I don’t like the fact that I hurt anybody. So I have grown, I’ve learned, I’ve stopped, and I’ve listened– but this has propelled me to do more. I’m committed to helping Black women, and I’m not going back now.

Speaking of your commitment to Black women, as we know the state of women’s health is a major topic now. So as an OB/GYN focused on women’s health care, what are your feelings on it? And how does this platform help you to continue to promote the work that you do, especially for women of color and Black women who are disenfranchised, no matter the tier of healthcare that they get?

I’d like to continue to make sure that I am being the change that women need to see in health care where women can find a doctor that they can align with and relate to that will help them have safe pregnancies, have relationships where they can ask questions, feel heard, be seen and be valued. And I think I do that every day, I see lots and lots of pregnant women and we are helping women learn how to advocate for themselves, how to stay healthy, how to stay safe, but also to ask for what they need.

And let’s get into this season of Married to Medicine. What can we expect from your personal story line this year?

The beauty of Married to Medicine is we don’t have to have storylines. We just have lives. We are all friends on the show and off the show. So we don’t have to come up with these concocted stories of ‘I’m doing this and I’m doing that.’ We just live our lives. It plays out on the show. They’re already intertwined. So, we don’t have to come up with things like, ‘I’m trying to open a store,’ because that’s not what we have to do. 

We ended the season with an explosive reunion. We start the season with an explosive opener. We’re all learning how to navigate through our differences. We do have our husbands involved. You get to see the men involved. We have things or people this year that you’ve never seen interact together. So it’s a great season. We’re giving back. In terms of Black maternity mortality, I made sure that the Med Gala this year was a give-back. And so, we are going to give a large sum of money back to Black maternity mortality. And it’s a great season. It’s a great season. We do a Cowboy Carter, down to a dude ranch together. So it’s a great season.

Dr. Contessa is back. But she’s at odds with your best friend, Heavenly. How did this shake things up after her one season hiatus?

It will start the way it ended. The shake up is still shaking up.