Keke Jabbar, Who Starred on ‘Love and Marriage: Huntsville,’ Dies at 42
She was a frequent sight on the series, which began in 2019, and impressed fans with her straightforward attitude.
Keke Jabbar, whose appearances on “Love and Marriage: Huntsville” embraced a dramatic flair that complemented the reality series, which revolves around the lives of three families as they attempt to revitalize the Alabama city through real estate ventures, has died. She was 42.
Her death was confirmed by her husband, Ameen Jabbar, on Friday in a story on his Instagram account. The post did not provide a date of death or cause.
“Huntsville,” which premiered in 2019 and is distributed by the Oprah Winfrey Network, embraces a reality television formula that plays up scandal, with interpersonal feuds and confrontations over affairs and slights that sometimes conclude with thrown drinks and profanity.
Ms. Jabbar announced that she had joined the main cast in March 2023. Her cousin, LaTisha Scott, was another member of the cast, and their family drove story lines across several of the show’s eight seasons.
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Ms. Jabbar’s appearances on the show often skewed confrontational, well within the show’s ethos, whether she was butting heads with her cousin or arguing with other cast members about infidelities. And it was this straightforward demeanor that many fans said they appreciated.
“I enjoyed watching her on the show because she always brought her true authentic self,” one viewer who called herself a “true fan of KeKe’s” commented on an announcement of Ms. Jabbar’s memorial service.
After a much-discussed moment on the show in 2023, in which Ms. Jabbar splashes a drink on Ms. Scott at a barbecue, the show’s cast members raised questions about Ms. Jabbar’s sobriety. In the next episode, Ms. Jabbar agreed to take a drug test, which came back negative.
Ms. Jabbar’s sobriety became a flashpoint on the series. During a conversation in a reunion episode, Ms. Jabbar was asked about the barbecue segment and her methadone use. She said that she regularly used methadone to treat a medical condition, and that she was sober at the barbecue.
Ne’Keshia Dawson Jabbar was born on Oct. 23, 1981. She grew up in Bessemer, Ala., in a home with her mother, grandparents and uncles. She was estranged from her father’s side of the family, and wasn’t close with her cousin, Ms. Scott, as they grew up.
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She always knew who her father was, she said in a 2023 interview on a pop culture channel on YouTube, and when she was 13 she found his number in the phone book and called to see if he would pick her up from school. That day, he had Ms. Scott with him, “and our relationship kind of grew from that point on,” Ms. Jabbar said, speaking of her cousin.
Ms. Jabbar, who had a master’s degree in English education, taught English at Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University in Huntsville, Ala., in her 20s. She said that her grandfather, who graduated high school in 1960 and started a construction company, provided encouragement for her own academic success.
“I was always required to make great grades in school, and for him nothing less than a B was acceptable, and barely that if he knew your potential was greater, so I made mostly A’s,” Ms. Jabbar wrote on social media, calling her grandfather an inspiration to her.
Later, as Ms. Scott’s profile grew on “Huntsville,” Ms. Jabbar, who lived in the city, told her cousin that she wanted be a part of the series, too. Eventually, producers learned of her interest and brought her onto the show.
“I’ve always wanted to do TV, since I was a little girl,” she said in the 2023 interview. “That’s what I thought my career would be. After undergraduate, I thought I’d go in as maybe a news anchor.”
In addition to her husband, Ms. Jabbar’s survivors include three children. Earlier this year, her oldest son, Amaree, graduated high school.
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