Weeks after announcing that she would be exiting The Real Housewives of Atlanta, Cynthia Bailey says it hasn’t really sunk in yet for her that she won’t be returning to the series.
“I don’t think it’s going to sink in until the show comes on and I’m not there,” she said. She hasn’t had the time to really think hard about it yet. She “hit the ground running” following the announcement, jetting from Atlanta to LA and staying “booked and busy.” That includes promoting The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip, which brings together cast members from the different franchises for fun, and drama, during a luxurious getaway (Nov. 18).
The decision to walk away from RHOA wasn’t an easy one to make though. However, it was a couple years in the making according to the star. It was one she finally pulled the trigger on in order to make sure she’s giving her marriage to Mike Hill the attention it needs, as all marriages require such attentiveness.
“I just want to be able to focus, have a little more time to focus on my marriage,” she told Us Weekly recently. “Now that I just celebrated my one-year anniversary, getting married is part one, staying married is part two. You actually have to be with your husband sometimes!”
She said that the show, which she was a part of for 11 seasons, simply took up more time than she could continue giving.
“It takes up a lot of filming time,” she said. “I would have to be in Atlanta, we’re talking about seven months, and then we’re promoting it and getting ready to gear up again.”
Deciding what’s most important to her amid the pandemic, she wants to continue to prioritize her marriage and family, with Hill and her daughter, Noelle, both in LA. For the record though, she and Hill are doing great.
“All things considered, we’re actually doing really well,” she said. “We were very much tested when the pandemic hit. We went from being bicoastal to in each other’s face 24/7. We had our wedding and it was during the pandemic and that was very stressful. We made it through that. And now we’re just enjoying married life together.”
She added, “I feel like with everything that has happened in the world, I think we’ve done pretty good. The whole world changed so our relationship changed a little bit as a result of it.”
She’s currently spending most of her time in LA but still technically bicoastal, holding on to her home in Atlanta. Since she hasn’t fully cut off her life in the A-Town, there is still a possibility that she may return to the show in some capacity in the future. She was actually offered the chance to be in the new season as a friend of the cast to lighten her load in regards to filming. After considering it, she declined and decided to step away.
“Either I’m just going to be all in or all out,” she said. “I got married on the show my first season, I got married on the show my last season. It kind of was a perfect way to tie it up in a bow and just go.”
But for now, as she relayed in a similar message to the New York Post, she just wants to put her relationship in the spotlight — of-camera that is.
“After going through my divorce with my ex [Peter Thomas], I’m very protective of my second marriage because, you know, I really want it to work, and I want to do everything that I can to protect it and to protect Mike.”