Married to Medicine's Dr. Jackie Walters Will Not Stand for Double Standards

If you’ve been following Married to Medicine pal Dr. Jackie Walters, you know that this season began with a huge shock. The first episode of Season five dived straight into the revelation that Jackie’s husband, Curtis Berry, had been cheating on her. Following this news, her fellow cast members, fans, and just about everyone else had something to say about the situation. In an interview with The Daily Dish podcast, Jackie got the chance to reveal what she had to say about everyone else’s reactions.

“What you will see on Season 5 was something I probably never would have imagined that I would have to deal with ever in life,” Jackie shared. Going into this season, she said she didn’t have a lot of time to process what was happening in her life. “We started filming a week or two later,” she revealed.

But, now that Season 5 is airing on Bravo, Jackie discussed what it was like seeing it all unfold all over again on television. “It's almost like having had surgery and the wound is healing and now somebody walks in with no anesthesia and just kind of rips it back off,” she shared.

When she saw her fellow cast members' reactions, she was shocked.  Reactions from the men were especially shocking for her. She said she encountered “the ultimate double standard, where a man should be forgiven and a woman should be thrown away.”

“And I don't think they probably realized how painful that was coming from a man and a woman hearing that,” she continued. “It was, ‘She should forgive him’ and ‘She should work it out’ and ‘She should fix it’ and ‘she she she she.’ But we hear very little about ‘Wow, he needs to [fix it.]’”

Her friend and fellow cast member Quad Webb-Lunceford, though, came to Jackie’s defense against her own husband, Dr. Gregory Lunceford. “Thank God for Quad. Quad is very supportive,” shared Jackie.

And, according to Jackie, fans have also been overwhelmingly supportive. “Ninety percent of women and men have been very supportive … the support from the fans has been fantastic,” she said.

However, the other ten percent have been very vocal as well. “I've had several men and women that say to me every man cheats, as if that's acceptable.” She continued, “I've had a few people who say ‘You work too much,’ ‘You don't give your husband enough attention,’ and casting blame. But I will stand and say until the day I die, I will accept no ownership because infidelity is a choice … Every day that you walk out of your house, you make a choice for good, bad, and evil. And so I don't accept any blame for it,” Jackie said.

As far as her advice for other women in the same situation, Jackie said, “I just want women to know it's OK to not hate the person, but you don't have to stay married to them. You don't have to; you get to choose.” She continued, “That's freeing for me to say. I can stand strong because I get to decide what's best for me.”

Hear more on how Jackie is dealing with the affair, how she stays fashionable at work, and how she started on Married to Medicine in the podcast above. 

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