Gizelle Bryant’s father passed away from brain cancer in July 2023, but more than a year later she’s still dealing with the aftermath of his death.
Gizelle had a serious conversation with her daughters Grace, Angel, and Adore about a complication with her father’s will in a preview of Season 9, Episode 10’s The Real Housewives of Potomac, which you can watch above.
“It is so complicated, OK?” Gizelle told her daughters. “So, he had a will that we think somebody threw in the trash can the last week that he was alive."
Gizelle’s father, Curtis Graves, died less than two weeks after having brain surgery, leaving behind his three children and six grandchildren.
“For whatever reason, two days after his brain surgery, someone around him had a will signed, supposedly by him,” Gizelle said in her confessional. “And I was with him actually. He was not able to sign anything, read anything — none of that."
Why is Gizelle Bryant contesting father Curtis Graves' will?
Gizelle told her daughters she’s currently in a court battle to try and get her father’s will thrown out.
“And if it’s thrown out, that means that he died without a will, and that means that in the state of Georgia, his children get two thirds of his estate,” Gizelle explained. “But in the will that’s fraudulent, we get nothing. And it’s as if you guys don’t exist either. It’s all very painful, because I don’t want to have to go through this. I know that he didn’t want me to have to go through this.”
Curtis Graves was part of a politically active family in the South that was involved in the N.A.A.C.P. and Civil Rights movement. He campaigned as one of the first Black members for the Texas House of Representatives, and served three terms between 1967 and 1973. He then spent three decades with NASA in Washington, D.C.
“My dad stood on making sure that generational wealth is passed,” Gizelle said in her confessional. “Nothing was left to me and nothing was left to my children, my father’s grandchildren — which were probably more important to him than me.”
Gizelle admitted to her daughters that fighting her father’s will has made her reconsider ever getting married again.
“It’s made me think a lot,” she told them. “And if I were to get married to somebody, and God forbid the same thing happened, for these reasons, I don’t legally ever want to be attached to anybody.”
Gizelle’s ex-husband, Jamal Bryant, remarried in November 2024, tying the knot with Dr. Karri Turner, according to Essence. Gizelle told her daughters she spoke to Jamal before he said his vows about protecting their children financially.
“So unbeknownst to me, he’s like, ‘I already put everything in a trust for the girls.’ Like, a trust cannot be broken. So, it supercedes a will. It supercedes a pre-nup,” Gizelle told her daughters. “So, I don’t ever want anyone to have the ability to take anything from you guys.”
Gizelle and Jamal’s long history has been detailed on The Real Housewives of Potomac over the years, including a rekindling of their relationship in 2019.
“You all know that family is number one with me. Period. And family also includes my children’s father. So, if he’s doing things differently in his life, if he’s on wives, we’re going to have conversations which protect the children,” Gizelle said in her confessional.
Watch all-new episodes of The Real Housewives of Potomac on Sundays at 8/7c on Bravo and the next day on Peacock.
