‘Twentysomethings: Austin’: Abbey Says Her Relationship with Kamari Played into a ‘Harmful Narrative’

Netflix’s new reality show has a lot of people talking. Twentysomethings: Austin showed a cast living together in Austin and figuring things out. Abbey Humphreys had a complicated relationship with Kamari Bonds. She explained why she felt like the show played into a harmful narrative.

Abbey and Kamari were friends with benefits on ‘Twentysomethings: Austin’

The reality show had Abbey, Isha Punja, Natalie Cabo, Raquel “Roxy” Daniels, Bruce Stephenson, Michael Fractor, Keauno Perez, and Kamari living together in two separate houses. It didn’t take long to see some of them hitting it off with each other.

Kamari is a model from North Carolina. He hoped to get representation from a modeling agency in Austin. Abbey revealed she is divorced and didn’t plan to rush into a new relationship.

They hit it off and decided to be friends with benefits. However, it didn’t go smoothly. Kamari flirted with another woman in one episode in front of Abbey, and she called it disrespectful. She later ended their relationship, and Kamari moved on to Roxy. Abbey had one more serious conversation with Kamari because she heard him hooking up with Roxy. 

Abbey says her relationship with Kamari played into a ‘harmful narrative’

Not everyone is happy with how the show portrayed them. Abbey talked to Distractify about how her relationship with Kamari was portrayed. 

“One thing to keep in mind, as the viewer, you do only see a certain side of the story,” she said. “Given that Kamari and I did have a lot of chemistry right off the bat, I think that was exacerbated further by us literally living a few dozen feet apart. I like to call this phenomenon ‘proximity bias.'”

She said ending their friends with benefits situation was the right choice. “I can’t say that I loved how Kamari and my relationship is portrayed,” she admitted. “It does look very one-sided and I think that plays into a harmful narrative about women and our being ‘too emotional’ or ‘overly attached.’ I was certainly not in a place for a relationship and while it does look like I potentially wanted something more with Kamari, I never felt that way.”

Abbey showed interest in another roommate after Kamari

Kamari wasn’t the only person to move on to someone else on the show. Abbey and their new roommate, Adam Davenport, started flirting too. But this didn’t go over well.

Abbey knew Natalie was interested in Adam and hurt her feelings when she started flirting with him without talking to Natalie. Abbey apologized to her. She admitted she struggled with needing attention from men. In the end, Abbey also decided to be friends with Adam instead of going further.