ET caught up with the reality star as she guest co-hosted 'The Real.'
Cynthia Bailey is getting real -- and taking over The Real.
The reality star joins the daytime talker on Tuesday as a guest co-host, part of the show’s Real Housewives of Atlanta takeover. Only ET was on set with Cynthia, whose Housewives co-stars will sit in the rest of the week, chatting up celeb guests and getting into girl talk with The Real regulars Tamera Mowry-Housley, Jeannie Mai, Loni Love and Adrienne Bailon.
“When Porsha [Williams] was here [for Monday’s show], she said, ‘You’ve got the best Housewife first!’” Loni tells ET. “It’s like, OK, Porsha.”
“She said the realest Housewife,” Adrienne corrects.
“That’s debatable,” Cynthia cracks. “That’s a matter of opinion.”
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It is hard to find a Housewife who keeps it more real than Cynthia.
“It all depends on what you consider real,” Cynthia says. “When you say ‘real,’ I’m talking about the stuff that I don’t want to talk about, as well as the stuff that I do want to talk about.”
The 48-year-old model been incredibly honest about the end of her six-year marriage to Peter Thomas, revealing to ET back in March they were separating.
Cynthia opens up about her now-divorce on The Real’s Tuesday episode. She also got candid with ET after the taping, admitting it will be “tough” to watch the end of her marriage play out on the new season of The Real Housewives of Atlanta.
“It’s good days and bad days,” she shares. “We’re really going through this process for real. I don’t normally see Peter unless we’re filming, to be honest, at this point. We just recently came from the all-cast trip, Hawaii, and that was a little awkward at first, because obviously we don’t go on vacations together outside of the show.”
Cynthia reveals co-star Kandi Burruss and her husband, Todd Tucker, invited Peter on the trip, but we’ll have to stay tuned to see how it all plays out.
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“It’s not easy,” Cynthia continues. “I’m doing the best that I can do with it. I think I want to just show my truth, and just live what is really going on. But at the same time, I feel I have to protect some of the things, you know, in my marriage. At the end of the day, reality TV or not, it’s not everybody’s business. Not every single thing.”
“That’s right,” Loni agrees.
“I definitely feel like I do a good job of not just being closed,” Cynthia adds. “Let’s just say the gates aren’t totally wide open. Respectfully, I didn’t have any interest in dragging my husband or anything like that. I know a lot of reality TV marriages end really horribly, and it’s unfortunate. Peter and I were friends first, and I would like to be friends at the end of this. At least cool.”
Speaking of friends, Cynthia has some advice for her Housewives castmates as they take their turn co-hosting The Real.
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“You know, just have fun,” she says. “The one thing about the ladies I work with, we’re no stranger to the camera, having a good time. I mean, they may just be a little shadier than I am … a little more dramatic than I am. But for the most part, we have a good time together. We work through our issues. You read or get read, however it works out for you, and you just move on. Have a cocktail and move on.”
Check your local listings to see when you can catch Cynthia’s episode of The Real, which airs weekdays. The Real Housewives of Atlanta returns for season 9 on Bravo on Nov. 6 at 8 p.m. ET.