Today while Goggling Kandi Burruss’s name for accuracy, a rather interesting/hater-worthy article on The Huffington Post, popped up at the top of my search page: “Kandi Burruss’ Engagement Ring Is Not What It Appears to Be.”
Huh?
What follows that headline is a 550-word article by diamond industry veteran Ira Weissman that, for what reason I don’t know, attempts to discredit Kandi, her fiance Todd, and even US Magazine all because her engagement ring isn’t as expensive as he and apparently the one other person who thinks like him — the editor who approved this piece — thought it was. Confused? Here’s what Weissman wrote:
According to the US Magazine report, Tucker proposed to Burruss with a “a gorgeous two-carat white diamond sparkler by ring designer Gregg Ruth.”…At first glance, the ring looks like a stunning (and HUGE!) two-carat oval diamond. In a fine pave setting like this from a high-end designer like Gregg Ruth, one would expect the diamond quality to be rather high. In my professional estimation, a large oval in a setting like this would need to be at least a G color. A diamond like this would likely cost at least $25,000 for the diamond alone. A designer setting like hers could easily add another $4,000 to $5,000. At full retail from a high-end Las Vegas jewelry store, this ring would likely cost well over $40,000.But at closer inspection, this is clearly not what we’re dealing with here. A quick look at Gregg Ruth’s website brings us to this ring’s specific page.The MSRP listed there is about $11,000….US Magazine is perhaps deliberately misleading us. The ring is not a “two-carat diamond sparkler” — it is a two-carat total weight diamond sparkler. The face of her ring, which is in the shape of an oval, is filled with much smaller round diamonds that when clustered together give the illusion of a much larger diamond.Now I am the last one to disparage creative ways to save money when buying diamonds. Diamond clustering is a fantastic way to get a stunning ring at a fraction of the price of a single large diamond. Her ring, for example, costs $11,000 instead of approximately $40,000 for the same ring with one large oval-cut diamond.What I am vehemently against, however, is that she has tried to hide this fact. She had a great opportunity to make a difference by explaining what her ring was really all about and telling the world she didn’t care — that this ring made her extremely happy because of how much her man loves her, not because of how much he spent on it. US Magazine’s reporting unfortunately just perpetuates the unreasonable expectations held by many women, and the sense of obligation their men feel in fulfilling them.
Nice job using a woman you have no real knowledge of to try to make a larger point about the financial burden placed on men at the time of engagement, but let me tell you where you failed, Weissman.
It’s clear this man has no knowledge of who Kandi Burruss because if there’s one thing we know about her, she is not afraid to talk about where she saved a few pennies. Kandi is the epitome of ballin’ on a budget and I didn’t gather that she was trying to pass off her ring as more than it was from her US mag exclusive at all.
And not to get all racial, but I’m not surprised this white jeweler HuffPo dug up isn’t familiar with this Black woman known for her time in Xscape and for being an Atlanta housewife. Had he actually done a little background and perhaps tried to speak to Kandi first, I’m sure she would have given him the rundown on her ring. Or, she would have slammed the phone on his ear because it’s tacky as hell to be all up in somebody’s bank account, pricing their ring like that. The only one concerned with how much Kandi’s ring cost is Weissman, so don’t be mad at her because you bought into the hype and were so surprised at this Black woman’s ring you had to investigate it. Go keep up with some other Joneses, please.
