The model opens up about her close friend’s choice to get married and secret, and admits she’s open to Phaedra Parks returning to the show.
Cynthia Bailey wasn’t happy when her Real Housewives of Atlanta co-star, Kenya Moore, got married in secret.
“I'm a really, you know, good friend of Kenya's,” Cynthia tells ET. “But I did not know that she was getting married. Now, I definitely didn't know that, and I was definitely a little pissed off about that. Like, I would've loved to have been there. I feel like, I've been through a lot with Kenya and her relationships and this is the good stuff that's happening right now. Like, she met this great man and they're getting married. I'm like, hello! I've been through the bad ones with you. Can I please be a part of this amazing guy that you're in love with?”
Kenya’s decision to get married in secret, then keep her husband’s identity a secret for as long as possible, is a major part of The Real Housewives of Atlanta’s current 10th season. Cynthia says she has since met Kenya’s husband, Mark Daly, but it did take some time.
“He exists,” she jokes. “He's awesome and they are great together. I am so rooting for them, 100 percent, and I really, honestly couldn't be happier. I've been telling them, they have to have another wedding. One that I can not only go to, but that I can actually be a part of in some way. I have to be a bridesmaid or something.”
Kenya kept Mark away from the cameras, which seemingly caused issues with her co-stars.
“Yeah, she wasn’t invited on the international trip,” Porsha Williams previously revealed to ET. “We are on a reality show. Everybody else on the show is obligated to open their family up to the world and open up our private lives. So, it’s not fair when somebody makes the decision to not bring their husband on the show.”
“Cynthia went through a divorce on the show, I went through a divorce, I mean, people going through stuff in their real life on the show,” she adds. “Every single person on this show has dealt with their personal life on the show and exposed themselves and has been transparent. You’re not a team player if you’re on the show and not show your personal life, but still want to be here. It’s not being a team player.”
Cynthia is quick to come to Kenya’s defense, though.
“I can't speak for Kenya on this entirely, but I will say, obviously, she's pretty excited,” she shares. “Clearly, she's pretty excited about Mark.”
Another major through line this season will be how the friend group moved on after Phaedra Park’s abrupt exit, following season nine’s explosive reunion, where she was exposed as having started a rumor about Kandi Burruss wanting to sexually assault Porsha.
“Last year’s reunion was really, really, really dark,” Cynthia admits. “I've been on the show for eight years and I've never seen anything quite like that energy before … This show's all about shade and drama. When it just gets to the point where you can just make up the most ridiculous lives on people, and carry it out … just might be too dirty for me.”
Cynthia says she has yet to have a real talk with Phaedra, but they have run into each other since she was let go from the show -- and she is open to her return to the series, one day.
“I will say this about Phaedra: we came on the show together,” Cynthia says. “Although we were never, like, super close, I always felt like we had a connection, because we started this journey together. I do miss having her around, 'cause, you know, she's like, super funny. But at the same time, I just couldn't agree with what she did.”
“I think there has to be some boundaries that just can't be crossed,” she continues. “It's not up to the cast to make those decisions. It's up to the network to decide … with that said, I thought Phaedra was great on the show. I thought she was hilarious on the show. So, I would never say that anyone that's been on the show shouldn't come back, because I think everybody brings different things. I really, really honestly do. But I do feel like, you know, it definitely was a wake-up call for other people on the show that felt like they could, you know, follow in her footsteps. It's just not going to be tolerated.”
The Real Housewives of Atlanta airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.