MadameNoire
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As if the cast’s season 13 newbies weren’t enough of a shakeup for The Real Housewives of Atlanta, a new source is saying that beloved alum, Phaedra Parks, might be returning to the show for its next season.
As longtime viewers know, Phaedra wasn’t an original cast member of RHOA but her hilarious quick wit, endless shady remarks, and business savvy all combined solidified her as one of the franchise’s most iconic housewives. More subtly though, Phaedra was always known to hold a grudge against those that crossed her. That being noted, it was infamously exposed during the season 9 reunion that she’d intentionally told Porsha Williams a false rumor that their fellow castmate (and formerly her best friend) Kandi Burress and her husband Todd had planned to drug and rape Porsha before taking the latter to a sex dungeon somewhere in their home. As assumed by viewers, Phaedra was enacting a form of payback since she’d felt Kandi hadn’t been supportive to her when her then-husband, Apollo Nida, was incarcerated which left her as a single mother taking care of their two sons.
As we all know, Phaedra’s masterfully harmful rumor about Kandi essentially got her kicked off the show since the severity of the lie was so major and Kandi had firmly said she would leave the series altogether if Phaedra returned.
Most recently, The Sun reported that a source close to the show told them, “There’s going to be a big cast shake-up next season and some producers are mulling over asking Phaedra Parks to return.” Explaining the reason for why now would be an ideal time for the big comeback, the source later continued, “The hope is that having fan favorites like Phaedra come back will help the show rise back into the 2 million viewers-a-week arena.”
If you didn’t know, despite all the drama that happened in the show’s latest season, its ratings blatantly highlighted that fans weren’t digging the loss of NeNe Leakes — an O.G. and staple of the show who wasn’t in season 13 due to her claims that she’d experienced systematic racism at Bravo and demands that the network is boycotted. Essentially, since there’re no signs of her return, it’s clear Bravo thinks bringing back Phaedra might be a good compromise for viewers. The source blatantly said, “RHOA was once Bravo’s highest-rated housewives show but has lost its superiority over other shows in the franchise.”
Concerning what Phaedra’s been up to lately since we last saw her on RHOA, she’s mostly been focusing on taking care of her kids and working on her businesses. That being said, last year she did make her return to reality TV when she went on WE tv’s Marriage Boot Camp: Hip Hop Edition with her then-boyfriend rapper Medina Islam. Funnily enough, while doing press for that show’s premiere in July of that year, she told PEOPLE that fans of RHOA should “keep hope alive” regarding whether being back on the series would ever be on the horizon for her. Relatedly, while we still don’t know if she and Kandi ever worked through their issues (our guess is no), surprisingly Phaedra and Kenya Moore were able to resolve their longstanding, shade-filled beef.
Do you think it’s time Phaedra finally rejoined the RHOA cast?
