The ‘Kendra Sells Hollywood’ star vows to “not allow the noise to distract me” as she focuses on her career and kids
Kendra Wilkinson is prioritizing herself.
The former Kendra on Top star, 38, is “pushing dating aside for until I feel better about it all,” she shared in the latest episode of PodcastOne’s On Display with Melissa Gorga. “It’s really important just to really focus on my kids, focus on my business, focus and not allow the noise to distract me — and men, because you know, and I think men, it’s really just going to be a difficult process for me to find love again.”
The former Playboy model, who shares kids Hank IV, 13, and Alijah Mary, 9, with ex-husband Hank Baskett, is concerned that men who want to date her have a certain image of her in their mind that days back to her pinup days.
“There’s a lot of problems when it comes to finding a man, or whatever because men think ‘Playboy,'” she told podcast host and Real Housewives of New Jersey star Melissa Gorga, 44. “They think I’m a certain type. They think I have these massive boobs so I have to be a certain thing.” She might be a “fun person” and a “free spirit,” but she is not going to be “caught up in someone’s idea of what I am when I’m not even close to that.”
“I’m just a basic tomboy, real estate agent mom,” Wilksinon said, noting that she recently turned down a date with a “really gorgeous, hot man.” She did not think the man was “really in it for me, but this idea [of me].”
Gorga agreed that the dating situation can be rough: “You’re getting better at fishing out who’s legit looking for a normal date, that they just want to go and meet somebody and who is someone looking for Kendra from the Playboy Mansion.”
It is a challenge for celebrities to date, Wilkinson noted, since “some people are still out for clout.” That is why she chooses to “stay more alone” and why “a lot of celebrities do stay [alone],” she said, adding, “I stay alone a lot because it’s really just difficult to navigate sometimes for even friendships.”
“There’s a hard part about doing what we do,” Wilkinson told Gorga. “There’s a good part and there’s a hard part. But the most important things are the kids and they see me as a mom so that’s the most important identity I have today. And all I do is for them and make sure that they’re taking care of the rest is just like, you know?”
Earlier this month, Wilkinson told E! News she is putting her personal growth ahead of dating four years after finalizing her divorce from Baskett, 40.
“I’m just trying to figure out who I am right now,” Wilkinson said. “Like, it’s a process. It’s a lot. So, I’m really getting to know who I am right now, and it takes a lot of time to do that.”
Wilkinson’s work as a Douglas Elliman realtor in Los Angeles is the focus of her latest reality series Kendra Sells Hollywood.
“Every day I wake up there is something to learn, whether it’s about my new career or about myself,” she told in 2021. “I’m learning that it’s about focusing on the small wins and that mistakes are meant to be a part of it to teach me how to improve and grow.”
Kendra Sells Hollywood can be streamed on Max.