The 'Real Housewives of Atlanta' star is back in the world of 'Housewives' for an all-stars mash-up show, plus a new scripted series!
Phaedra Parks jokes she returned to the world of Real Housewives "kicking and screaming."
"I'm on the mash-up show and oh, what a great, interesting time," the Real Housewives of Atlanta alum spills to ET over video chat. Earlier this year, Phaedra and a bevy of Bravo-lebrities -- Jill Zarin, Brandi Glanville, Taylor Armstrong, Tamra Judge, Vicki Gunvalson and Eva Marcille -- descended on Dorinda Medley's Massachusetts estate, Blue Stone Manor, to film the second iteration of Peacock's "all-stars" Housewives spinoffs. The first, Ultimate Girls Trip, premieres next week.
"It was awesome," Phaedra teases. "Y'all are going to love it because it is the epitome of everything Housewives, the whole series is about. Very dramatic, very scandalous, a lot of secrets revealed, a lot of drinking, a lot of crying, a lot of screaming, and of course a lot of fighting. That's the top-rated show for any Bravo show."
"It was great because these are different women," she says of shooting with a cast beyond the RHOA lineup. "And at the end of the day, we were at the Manor, which is absolutely gorgeous. We were there for a couple of weeks so, there is an end date, you get in and you get out, and that was fun. And I became friends with all of them, and I've kept in touch with every single one of them afterwards. That's good because when you're doing it in your own city, it's a different scenario."
Phaedra last appeared on the ninth season of RHOA in 2017, exiting the show after it came to light at that year's reunion that she contributed to the spread of false allegations about co-star (and one-time close friend) Kandi Burruss involving a "sex dungeon."
"It's some secrets that are revealed that's like, wow," she promises. "And I think for me it clears up a lot of the old stuff from Atlanta as well."
When ET spoke with the mash-up's hostess, Dorinda, last month, she confessed to bonding with Phaedra and Eva the most out of the women on the cast, and hinted at some friction between herself and Vicki. Tabloid reports surfaced in the weeks after filming that Vicki may have made light of COVID-19 and the vaccine, causing friction with her castmates. It also came out around filming that Vicki had split from her longtime fiancé, Steve Lodge.
"Vicki was going through some things," Phaedra confirms. "Vicki definitely brought her own set of problems that had nothing to do with us, but it was good and I think people will resonate with what she's going through. But then I think, some of the... shall we say the disagreements with people will be very interesting, as well."
From the sound of it, though, Phaedra stayed out of the drama -- and let Dorinda do the heavy lifting.
"I love Dorinda Medley," she gushes. "I think she is my spirit animal. I love to make things nice. She is very extravagant, she loves to entertain and -- everybody knows -- I love a party. I love everything fabulous. But she is a spitfire. Now, she does not back away from a fight. She's so cute and just perfect. And she's got this little dragon in her."
"[And] I love Brandi," she adds. "Brandi is so misunderstood. She is a joy, she's just an angel with just a sprinkle of devilish on her, but she's a sweetie pie."
Before that mash-up show makes it to TV, Phaedra is back on the small screen with Covenant, an ALLBLK anthology series that takes stories from the Bible and reinterprets them through a modern lens. Phaedra stars as Bernice Whitfield (no relation to RHOA co-star Sheree Whitfield, though Phaedra notes, "They could definitely be in the family, because Sheree does love the finer things in life, and so does Bernice"), the matriarch of a powerful -- and ethically questionable -- family in the two-part installment, The Retribution. It's her acting debut.
"I think acting is always a natural progression for anyone that's a TV personality," Phaedra muses. "I actually heard about this role and was like, 'Wow, this sounds so interesting. I'd love to read it.' I read it and my agent knew ... Kaye Singleton, who actually wrote the whole anthology. And so I read it and I said, 'I want to audition.' Because they said, 'We'll just give you a part.' And I said, 'No, I want to audition, and I want to earn the role that I want.' And I auditioned and I got the role that I wanted it, which was Bernice, the wife of the very wealthy Conroy Whitfield."
Phaedra hopes the soapy drama is her first of many gigs as an actress.
"I really love acting," she shares. "You get to do projects that you resonate with, it's very respectable, and people, when they understand that you're acting vs. in reality world, it's a different sort of conversation because, honey, not everything is real in reality, but people make that assumption that everything that they're seeing is truthful and this is what it is. And so this is great to really be playing a character and be able to walk away from it and people understand that, 'Hey, that's a character.'"
As far as dream roles go, Phaedra hopes to take on an action-packed part that also plays into her "southern belle" vibe -- think Kill Bill "meets Martha Stewart." She's also excited by projects that her sons -- Ayden, 11, and Dylan, 8 -- could watch... or be a part, too!
"Ayden would love to act," she says. "It's something that he's interested in too, but [both boys are] my coaches. They do the lines with me and they practice with me. They've been super helpful."
With so much going on professionally, Phaedra says she's put dating on the back-burner. She last appeared on TV on Marriage Boot Camp in 2020, with then-boyfriend Medina Islam. They seemingly called off their romance before the show aired last summer.
"I'm just a free agent," she quips. "Of course I go on dates, but that hasn't been my focus because I'm really happy and I've been super busy. And I don't know if I really have time to devote to a super serious committed relationship. I have fun."
"The single life is a good life," she adds. "I'm a pound cake, I don't need anything. Pound cakes are delicious all by themselves. You can add a little whipped cream or ice cream, but honey, you could just eat it by yourself at night and it's oh, so tasty!"
Covenant: The Retribution is now streaming on ALLBLK.
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