A special bond! Nearly five years after Kendra Wilkinson and Hank Baskett’s divorce, the former model is proud of their coparenting relationship.
“I’ll forever love my ex-husband, you know, he’s the greatest father to my kids and that’s all I really just ask for,” Wilkinson, 37, exclusively told Us Weekly while promoting the second season of her Kendra Sells Hollywood reality TV show. “That itself is so good. It’s good enough and if later down the line things happen, then they happen. I will always love him and I loved him once. Love doesn’t just go away.”
She added: “We only have a short time on Earth, and once you love someone, I will always love them, you know? And my kids are just so happy and they’re so taken care of.”
The Girls Next Door alum and the NFL star, 40, tied the knot in June 2009, less than two weeks after revealing they were expecting their first child. Son Hank IV, 13, arrived in December 2009 and daughter Aliyah, 9, followed in May 2014.
Shortly after Aliyah’s birth, the then-couple’s relationship faced cheating allegations. While Baskett denied the claims, Us revealed at the time that Wilkinson had thrown her wedding ring in the toilet after learning of the alleged affair. The Kendra on Top alum ultimately decided to stay with the former Minnesota Vikings player. However, by April 2018, the twosome split for good. Their divorce was settled that October.
Since then, Wilkinson and Baskett have remained committed to coparenting. “The schedule is really tough. It’s totally tough,” the Scary Movie 4 actress previously told Us in November 2021. “You miss your kids, obviously, when you don’t have them. But some weeks you’re like, ‘I can’t wait to give them away.’ But of course, you miss them. You’ve just got to go with it. You’ve got to figure it out and be OK with it.”
During her recent chat with Us, Wilkinson gushed about her kids, noting that Hank IV started “dunking” in his basketball practices and Aliyah landed a starring role in her local production of Matilda.
“They’re so much good, and life is just getting good again,” she told Us. “I was struggling for years … I was in a very bad, dark place for a long time. So, life is finally starting to get good again and I hope that I can continue this and keep pushing.”
While the Kendra alum has gotten into a healthy coparenting rhythm with Baskett, she isn’t ready to dive back into a new romantic relationship post-divorce.
“Dating is still very nonexistent. It’s really [not in] my head right now because I’m really so in love with building my new career in business and focused on my two kids,” the former Playboy model confessed to Us. “I don’t have [a] nanny or housekeeping [service], so I don’t really have a lot of time to give to some dude. You know, it’s just not really exciting for me to think that way. It’s more exciting to sell houses and feel that good feeling. … I love what I’m doing and if I’m loving what I’m doing, I don’t see the purpose in changing that and giving my time to another person hoping that it works.”
Wilkinson found a second career as a realtor in Los Angeles, which has been chronicled on her docuseries Kendra Sells Hollywood. The first season debuted in 2021 as she sought to sell exclusive properties in California.
“It just really makes me feel good about myself when I close deals,” Wilkinson said on Tuesday. “And my kids are proud of me when I do that. They won’t be proud of me if I bring in some strange dude. It’s just, like, they’re proud of me for closing deals and that’s what I wanna continue. I’m really grateful for this chance I’m getting in my life, so I don’t really know if I date someone … it’s, like, I wouldn’t wanna take away from this great experience for like, you know, like a date or something.”
Kendra Sells Hollywood season 2 premieres on MAX on Thursday, May 26. New episodes drop weekly on the streaming platform.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
