Getty Phaedra Parks in 2018
Phaedra Parks was a beloved member of The Real Housewives of Atlanta during Seasons 3-9…until she wasn’t anymore. In April 2017, Parks was fired from the show because she had been spreading serious rumors about fellow cast members conspiring to rape, according to TMZ.
Sources who were close to production for RHOA told TMZ that Parks had told fellow castmate Porsha Williams that Kandi Burruss and her husband, Todd Tucker, were planning to drug Williams so that they could take advantage of her sexually. Apparently, Kandi threatened the network if they were to air that clip, so Bravo didn’t air it.
During the Season 9 reunion, all was revealed when Parks was outed as the one who had started the rumor and told Williams. In a May 2017 episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Cohen asked guest NeNe Leakes if she was surprised that Parks started the rumors. NeNe said no.
“Absolutely not, I’m not surprised,” Leakes said to Cohen, “Phaedra’s been doing this bulls–t for a very long time. Phaedra did this exact same thing to me, as we’ve already discussed before. Years ago, on the show, when she first came on, she brought on my half-biological sister on the show and filmed with her the same way she did with Kandi when she brought that Johnnie guy on. She did that same thing to me, tried to take me down, and it didn’t work because we ended up getting it before it even hit the air. So, Phaedra’s been doing stuff like this, she just got caught with these girls.”
No One Wanted to Work With Her Anymore
According to a May 2017 story in E! News, Andy Cohen said that “The question that we look at now with Phaedra is, when the reunion ended, none of the other women wanted to have anything to do with her,” he continued, “So that’s what you have to look at, how do you shoot a show about a group of friends when no one is speaking to one of the friends?”
Many of the RHOA members and Parks are still not on good terms. In April 2020, Porsha Williams revealed to Bravo that their conversation is cordial when they bump into each other in Atlanta. “You know, we still chat here and there. [It’s] just, ‘How you doing? How are the kids? How’s PJ?’ But we haven’t been able to have that full sit down, which is fine, I’m good with it.” Williams said.
However, Kandi Burruss and Parks are not on speaking terms. In a 2017 blog post, Burruss wrote: “I was shocked, angry, disgusted… I could go on. Even with everything that had happened between me and Phaedra, I still didn’t think Phaedra would go so low as to tell someone that I wanted to drug them. Being an attorney, you would think she wouldn’t intentionally spread defamatory false statements about someone.”
Parks Has Moved on to Other Reality-TV
Since Parks left The Real Housewives of Atlanta, she has moved on to other reality TV shows, like Marriage Bootcamp: Hip Hop Edition. Parks is set to appear on the show with her boyfriend, Los-Angeles based actor Medina Islam. According to Bravo, the two have been dating for a little under one year.
Parks has been advertising her much-anticipated return to TV on her Instagram page, posting short video clips of what’s to come on Marriage Bootcamp: Hip Hop Edition. The show premieres Thursday, July 2 at 9/8c.