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‘Queens Court’: Rodney Peete and Holly Robinson Peete on Advising Tamar Braxton, Nivea, and Evelyn Lozada Through the Dating Process (Exclusive)

Marriages in Hollywood seem to last no more than a few years. So for the couples who make it decades, they give their celebrity counterparts hope. In the case of Rodney Peete and Holly Robinson Peete, who have been married for 27 years, they don’t mind serving as a blueprint. And in the new Peacock dating series Queens Court, they are giving three women ready to find their life partner all of the tools.

The show stars Tamar Braxton, Nivea, and Evelyn Lozada on a quest for true love. Over ten 60-minute episodes, the Peetes guide them along the way, as the ladies lean on each other to get through the process in hopes of finding their king. The Will Packer-produced series premieres on March 16.

Ahead of the premiere, PopCulture spoke with the Peetes on their long-standing marriage and how they serve the queens on the show. Watch the full video interview on our YouTube channel.

PC: So congratulations on the show. It’s definitely an interesting concept for both of you. So I’ll start with you, Holly. Some people are really confused as far as what I’ve seen on social media about why you guys are heading the show. We know you guys from OWN and Hallmark and from your charitable affiliations, so this seems a little bit farfetched for some. So why was this project something that you wanted to bring to the forefront?

HRP: Well, first of all, we love this genre. We watch these shows all the time. We really do. It’s one of our bonding experiences. We just love them. We love especially about Queens Court, is that it’s not just 20-somethings on a beach somewhere. These are women who have been through some things in their life and are so vulnerable and coming out and saying, “You know what, this is what I’m looking for right now.” And they’re women of a certain age too. They’re not 20, not even 30, they’re in their 40s. So there’s that, and there’s also the fact that we love the idea of helping people find love. And we authentically feel like they’re all in this for that reason. I knew Tamar and Evelyn, and I know their journey and their story, we’re friends.

I did not know Nivea before this experience, and I love her to death. I think she’s going to be America’s sweetheart, and she’s just so delightful. But in the end, really, we love the idea of being able to impart our wisdom with people who genuinely are looking for something like what we have. And I think that when we were offered the job, it was weird, both of us looked at it, and we’re both like, “Yeah, we’re in. This is what we want to do.”

RP: Because outside of the show, we get asked the question all the time, “What’s the secret?” I mean, there’s no one secret, but people want to know it or get advice from us from many different ways. So it felt only natural. When we got asked to do this, it felt only natural to say, “Yes, we’re jumping in with both feet because…”

HRP: Yeah. And we’re invested too. We want them to find love. And then we really became close with not just the queens, but the kings too, and we found it to be a fascinating social experiment, and we’re so glad we did it.

PC: Now, you mentioned that you already knew Evelyn and Tamar and that you obviously you fell in love with Nivea while participating in the show. But what specifically went into the selection process for the three queens that are featured?

HRP: We had nothing to do with selecting the queens, but I feel like they did a great job. These ladies, they’ve been through things. We know a lot of what they’ve been through because they’ve lived their lives so publicly. And then the other catch is that them finding love, they have to find a man who’s comfortable with a woman who’s done some stuff and comfortable with a woman who is out there and is in the public eye and her business isn’t out there. So that was great.

And for the kings to be able to go to Rodney and say, “Hey, what’s it like dating a high-profile woman?” When we got together, I was already on my second TV show, and I was rolling. So there were a lot of similarities we really related to them. Now, the difference for us was, we got together in the ’90s. We didn’t have social media. We didn’t have a lot of dating apps. It’s just a dating world. It’s so different now. So that was a takeaway for us like, “Wow.” We looked at each other like, “We’re glad we figured it out when we did.” But that said, I think there’s something to the authenticity of women a little bit older, already have children, and have experienced breakups, divorces, and life has hit them. If they want to find that person, they’re still looking. I think there are a lot of people out there that will relate to that journey.

PC: Now, for you, Rodney, I often hear women say things like, “I wish I knew a man’s perspective.” And here you are, giving them your perspective. So how do you feel as if your advice was received by the three queens on the show?

RP: I think the advice that I was given to Queens was received very well. In fact, they often came to me and say, “What’s that body language telling you? What’s he saying? When he says this, what does he actually mean? Or how do I get more information?” Because we, as guys, tend to hold things in. We don’t really want to reveal things or share too much about ourselves.

So a lot of questions from the queens, all three of them were, “How do I get him to open up a little bit more about what he really wants?” Because that’s what the show is all about, is finding love. And they have a relatively short period of time to try to find that with these guys. So it was a fast pace. But also on the flip side of that, the guys also were asking me, because I’ve been in a relationship with a high-profile woman, and we dated when she was at a high point in her career. She had her own thing going. It’s easy to be intimidated by all of that.

So the guys kept asking me, “OK, what do I do? How do I approach Tamar? What do I say to Nivea that’s going to make her know that I’m real?” So I kept sharing that with them, and it was really cool to see them actually wanting to know—

RP: And take it all in because it lets you know that they were there for the right reasons.

HRP: Some of them.

RP: Some of them. 

PC: We saw a sneak peek, so it wasn’t really too hard to figure out who was there for the right reasons and who was not. Now, you guys obviously have spoken about this, I believe you said you’ve been married for 27 years, right?

RP: Yes.

PC: So, as someone, obviously with a long-term successful marriage, what barriers do you feel, I know Holly spoke about some of them today as far as the dating world is just so different in social media, but what other barriers do you feel are the most common in dating and relationships today?

HRP: Oh, well, I mean certainly the issues of women being more independent. And actually, some women are raised with the culture of, “I don’t need a man,” or “I don’t want a man, I don’t need a man.” But maybe they actually do. How do you let your guard down? How do you find a man who’s going to let you be you and want you to win and is not competing with you?

So I thought those were interesting themes, especially on this particular show on Queens Court, that sometimes we come up against things that we’re not really sure how to deal with. And when sometimes as women, not all, lying to ourselves that we don’t want a partner, a life partner, and someone to share it all with. But how do you get there? How do you get there without getting your heart stomped on or whatever?

So there were a lot of things that, I mean, I definitely learned and took away from Queens Court. A lots of takeaways, and I think people are going to see themselves in their situations in this show.

PC: And in what ways do the two of you go about actually helping the women navigate through this experience? Because obviously, you are there to give them advice, but ultimately the decision is up to them.

HRP: We tried it. We put in our 2 cents. We were so invested. So we were there from the beginning to the end. And not just to come in and tell them, “Today you’re going on a date to the lake.” We were there. So we were talking to them about it. When the cameras went down, we were talking about-

RP: Make sure he tells you this, make sure you ask him that. Those things.

HRP: Yeah. And oftentimes when they would say, “Oh, well you know he done. Two baby mamas and he got…” And I was like, “Well, no offense, but you got two baby daddies.” No. But I had to go there with that because that’s keeping it real. We tend to be too good for certain things, but then we’ll miss out on some good stuff because we’re so busy being holier than thou. So I tried to get the ladies to be a little bit more open and not look for the red flag so much, but look for the good stuff.

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