A Motor City couple is dishing on joining the cast of Love & Marriage: Detroit, the intricacies and excellence of their city, and the true root of a friendship fallout.
Source: Q11 Photography
Kimberly and Marcel Dobine are the latest additions to the second season of the OWN show centered around Black love, business, and friendships in the D.
As the season continues, the Dobines told BOSSIP that they want viewers to tune in for more than just drama on the Carlos King show, and instead appreciate seeing the Motor City’s culture, grit, heart, and history.
“We were born and raised in the city of Detroit. We believe in Detroit. We stand ten toes down for Detroit,” Marcel told BOSSIP’s Managing Editor Dani Canada.
Source: Q11 Photography
His words were echoed by his wife who said that Detroit is more than just a backdrop for the show; it’s an integral part of their identity that they love to showcase amid the D’s ongoing renaissance.
“Detroit is who we are, through and through,” said Kimberly. “We wanted to really bring light to the beauty of Detroit, our culture, our food, our people, our family.”
“People have this perception of Detroit being this old, beat-up, broken-down city, but they don’t know the beauty of Detroit,” she added.
When the Dobines first appeared on TV screens, viewers saw them meet up with the show’s friend group, which includes the Harrises…
Source: Love & Marriage: Detroit / OWN
the Thompsons…
Source: Love & Marriage: Detroit / OWN
and the Smiths.
Source: Love & Marriage Detroit / OWN
Things quickly went left, however, when Kristina and Kimberly sat face to face after having a friendship fallout.
During that conversation, it seemed like Kimberly was upset about Kristina’s friend remarking about Kimberly having an Android phone and being “perfect” for her husband, who also had an Android because they “both like mediocre things.”
However, the event planner, designer, and founder of the Posh & Popular brand told BOSSIP that there’s more to the story.
“I know iPhone people are really serious, but it’s not that serious to us,” she told BOSSIP before noting that it wasn’t just about the phone comment; it was about the underlying tone and intent of the remark.
Marcel then noted that he believed that the comment was meant to be shady.
“Everyone’s got the running joke about Android versus iPhone,” said Marcel. “I’m in the businees where words matter. I’m really serious about when you say things, words really matter. For everyone, I look at body language and tonality. That’s 93% of communication.”
Despite remaining calm during the situation, Kimberly said the incident left her reeling and confused.
“When Marcel and I got in the car, he was like, ‘What was that?’” she recounted. “I never had that experience before.”
As time passed, the tension lingered and a follow-up meeting with Kristina only heightened Kimberly’s concerns. “I expressed to her the situation. Am I tripping?” Kimberly asked and what followed was confusion including a moment when the friend who commented first denied ever saying it, then claimed it was a joke. For Kimberly, that was a tipping point.
She felt let down, not just by the initial comment but by the way it was handled afterward including a phone call from the commenter that felt more like an attack than a conversation.
“I immediately hung up and blocked her,” Kimberly recalled.
Not only that, but Kimberly said that Kristina called the partygoers to verify that the comment was actually made because she didn’t hear it. This moment marked a pivotal point in her Kristina friendship.
“Now I have a friend who I deem a very close friend not taking my word for something when I never needed to lie about anything,” Kimberly told BOSSIP. “I have always had her back in any situation. I just feel like I was being treated differently than I had always treated her.”
She added that she and Kristina tried to reconcile, but the trust was shattered.
“There was a series of things, and at that point, we just started to drift away a little bit. There wasn’t a big fallout, I just felt like I was being treated differently than I had always treated her,” said Kimberly.
Ultimately, the friendship ended not over a simple misunderstanding but the culmination of unmet expectations and feelings of dismissal.
“I wouldn’t even say betrayed, I would say dismissed or treated unfairly within the situation,” said Kimberly when asked if she felt betrayed by her former friend. “If I’m your friend and I bring a situation to you, I’m not gonna call everybody at my party. It was never, ever, ever about a phone,” she emphasized.
On Saturday’s episode of Love & Marriage Detroit, it was clear that the two are still not in a good place amid Kristina alleging that Kimberly “tries to manipulate situations through tears.” At her surprise birthday, Kristina was adamant that her former friend would “use her emotions to try to manipulate people” so she could “play the victim.”
When word got back to Kimberly, another showdown between her and Kristina went down and Kimberly tossed pieces of clothing from the influencer’s KBS Collection on the floor.
Prior to the airing of that scene, Kimberly told BOSSIP that she would accept an apology from Kristina because that’s “all she wanted from a friend”, but now that seems unlikely.
“You take your friends’ grievances seriously, especially when they’re coming to celebrate you or to show up for you,” said Kimberly. “And so that’s, that was my only thing. I just didn’t like the way it was handled.”
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