Why Did Tia and Tamera Mowry Quit Their Reality Show?
In the ’90s, fans would get a weekly dose of America’s favorite twin sisters, Tia and Tamera Mowry, thanks to their hit sitcom, Sister, Sister. But after the series was canceled in 1999, there was a brief period when we didn’t see the famous duo on our screens until they landed their own reality show, Tia & Tamera on the Style Network.
From 2011-2013, viewers got to go inside the lives of the identical celebrity twins as they balanced marriage, motherhood, and their careers. Though the series was a major success, Tia and Tamera quit the show after just three seasons, leaving fans wondering why they moved on from reality TV so quickly.
‘Tia & Tamera’ aired on the Style Network for three seasons
Twelve years after Tia and Tamera’s hit sitcom Sister, Sister was canceled, the famous sisters landed their own reality series, Tia & Tamera, on the Style Network.
The show first aired in 2011 and followed the sisters in their day-to-day lives as they tried to balance their careers, marriage, and motherhood.
The series chronicled Tia’s experience adapting to motherhood with her son Cree, as well as Tamera tying the knot with her husband Adam Housley in May 2011 and later becoming pregnant with her first child, Aden.
Tia & Tamera aired for three successful seasons on the Style Network, but after the channel was re-branded Esquire Network, the duo decided not to pursue a fourth season and ultimately moved on from reality tv.
Tia and Tamera were ready to live their’ family lives behind the TV cameras’
In January 2014, Tia and Tamera announced that they would not be proceeding with another season of their reality show.
Though Tamera initially told fans that she and her sister were ready to live their “family lives behind the TV cameras,” it turns out that that isn’t the only reason they turned their backs on reality tv.
While speaking to Essence magazine in 2014, Tia and Tamera shared that their decision to quit their reality show wasn’t an easy one. In fact, the duo contemplated doing another season of their show, but after much deliberation, they concluded that it was time for them to move on.
“What a lot of people don’t know is that it was almost 50/50,” Tia told the outlet. “The Style Network turned into Esquire. That left my sister and I with the question, should we continue the show? It was talked about for a while. Could we pitch the show to other networks? That was when my sister and I decided to draw the line and say, ‘We’re done!’ We did three amazing years.”
Tamera then weighed in, “I came to a point where I thought the universe was giving my sister and I the chance to say if we wanted to move on or not. I had time to really reflect.”
Though the series could have easily transitioned over to another network, the sisters admitted that they’d had enough with TV cameras following them around and no longer wanted to subject their families to that type of lifestyle.
“I thought; I had cameras when I was engaged, I had cameras when I was pregnant and then I had cameras around when I had my son,” Tamera recalled. “I just wanted personal private time with my family. I think that you should have balance in your life. That was something that I particularly needed. I wanted to protect that side of my life. I didn’t want [my son] on camera all the time.”
Tia and Tamera didn’t stay out of the spotlight for too long
Though they no longer wanted cameras following them and their families around, that didn’t mean Tia and Tamera were done with life in the spotlight.
After quitting their reality show, both sisters went on to pursue separate projects, with Tamera becoming a co-host on the daytime talk show The Real, and Tia landing the starring role on Nickelodeon’s Instant Mom.
Today, Tamera is still keeping it real on the Emmy winning talk show while Tia currently stars on the Netflix series Family Reunion.
The sisters are also killing it as moms and wives, so from what we can tell, quitting reality television might have been the best decision for them.
