'Love Thy Sister' Reality Series Showcases Southern Sisters

There are many reality TV options to watch these days and several Black families in a crowded TV landscape. If you can remember back to the days when there were only three major channels and Black folks were few and far between, you can appreciate all the exposure various types of Black families get these days. A new entry into the reality scene are North Carolina’s Rucker sisters.

Three gorgeous, accomplished sisters – two of whom married NBA players and one of who married a dentist and is herself a former lawyer, are no extensions of their men. They are independent, educated, complicated and funny women all on their own. Meet Ruby Rucker, the oldest, Ione Rucker, the youngest and Ellen Rucker Carter, whose show Love Thy Sister debuted on WeTV in January.

OK, so it’s the usual reality TV scenarios of course, with all the conflict and drama that applies, but with a few interesting twists – all of the women are successful and Ione is grappling with the fact that her once best male friend is now a woman. Read on for more about The Rucker Sisters.

Now that your show has been on, how are people receiving it?

Ruby: We’ve had a great response. A lot of people have been supportive of the show, people have been tweeting, we’ve been interviewed for blogs and radio, we’ve gotten a really good response. But what has the adjustment been like for you? Ione: A lot of people have been recognizing me at the grocery stores and at restaurants so it’s been really neat to see that people are watching and recognizing us. We’re getting a lot of love and we’re people people so it’s been a neat experience for us.

What made you guys want to do a reality show and did you consider that it might become intrusive? People on social media can be very supportive, but they can be very nasty as well.

Ruby: I think I’m taking the biggest hit for people saying that my daughter using profanity on the show. You have to have a tough skin and you have to be secure with who you are and what you are. I know that I’m raising my children in a wonderful way to be God-fearing so you just have to be secure in all your roles as a mother, wife and sister.

Ruby, you and your husband have been having financial issues that are being dealt with on the show? You’ve had to have some family come and live with you. 

Yes, on the show my aunts were living with me full-time. My husband and I are still dealing with a financial struggle. We got hit really, really hard. My husband had a great prosperous business [he’s an orthodontist] and when the economy tanked, we got hit really hard. But just like America, we’re bouncing back slowly.

 Ruby, talk about being intrusive. You showed you and your husband trying to find some privacy to be intimate with all the people living in your house. Were you embarrassed at all by the scene that shows you and your hubby trying to get together? It’s think it’s hard when you have other people living in your house and you have kids. We’ve been married 16 years and I really try to keep the spice in our marriage. I think that’s important. My husband’s very good-looking and women are always coming after him. I think as a wife, and maybe its’ antiquated thinking, but I think that’s what you have to do. I’m proud and OK that I showed a loving Black couple on TV.

Ellen, you were married to NBA star Vince Carter. [The two were college sweethearts and infidelity was part of the reason they broke up.] Basketball wives have become very popular but maybe not for the right things. What made you decide to join the show and how much did you want to share about your relationship?

The great thing about WeTV [and their producers] is that they didn’t want another Basketball Wives and they didn’t want it to be all about the guys. And that applies to me and Ione. We have a daughter together and we have a wonderful relationship, but unfortunately our marriage didn’t work out. I was very hurt in my relationship but now going into another serious relationship it’s hard to trust again and that’s part of my storyline.

Ione, you were married to Antwan Jamison. How did you feel about sharing about your relationship? How do you keep the focus on you and not on the gossip or the more salacious things people want to know? [Antwan and Ione met around Charlotte, he knew her sister first].

The show is not really about our ex-husbands at all. It’s about transitions and our lives and that’s what WEtv really liked about us. Of course, our ex-husbands are a huge part of our past because we married and had children with them but they are not part of the show at all.

Ione, one of the biggest transitions on your show is your best friend Juan’s transition from your best male friend to now identifying and transitioning to a woman. It seems like you struggled with this a little bit.

I met Londyn in college and she was a he then and she went to Morehouse College. We’ve known each other since we were 18 years old. We just clicked from the moment we met. When Londyn made the decision 8 years ago to be a woman it was very hard for me because I loved Juan. But this is something Londyn has been battling her whole life, but it’s been hard to me to accept not having Juan anymore.

So what can viewers of Love Thy Sister expect this first season?

Ruby: You see my struggle turning 40 years old, with Ellen you see her relationship with [politician boyfriend Bakari] and how it evolves and you see Ione dating again and getting back out there and trying to find love. And it’s the story between us and how we battle sometimes and how we relate to each other and are sisterly toward each other. And a lot of fun moments.

Ellen: That’s what sets our show apart. It’s an hour of fun, drama, love – all those good things.

Love Thy Sisters airs on Thursdays at 10 p.m. on WeTV.

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