The 'Real Housewives of Atlanta' star holds nothing back while chatting her fallout with Porsha and rekindled friendship with Kenya.
Marlo Hampton is ready to declare her The Real Housewives of Atlanta co-star Porsha Williams "the fakest of them all" after facing off with her one-time pal at the just-filmed season 13 reunion. The former friends fell out fast over the course of the season, thanks in part to Marlo’s rekindled friendship with her and Porsha’s mutual frenemy, Kenya Moore. Marlo tried to tell Porsha it was possible for her to be friends with both women at the same time, but Porsha felt betrayed, seeing as Kenya’s been on a one-woman mission to “expose” Porsha for sleeping with Bolo, the stripper hired as entertainment for Cynthia Bailey's Charleston, South Carolina, bachelorette party.
"You have the real and you have the fake at the reunion," Marlo teases to ET over video chat, "and then you have the ones who just, they sit there like Muppets, puppets, and don't say anything."
"People showed their true colors and some hid their colors, their true colors," she adds. "And some of the truth was hidden."
That truth seems to be the answer to the Bolo question. While Porsha has been adamant that she did not sleep with the man, Kenya and now Marlo are convinced she did. While Marlo first accepted Porsha's "no," she says she simply can’t anymore.
"At the end of the day we know it's bulls**t, I know you're lying, OK?" she cracks. "I know you're lying. Porsha is like, ‘No, it didn't happen. If you were my friend, you wouldn't have to ask that.’ If I was your friend, I would have been right in your room that next morning [in] South Carolina. You would have been on the phone talking to me, on the group texting situation."
"When we got back from South Carolina, Porsha didn't call me, I literally had my phone, I text her, 'Hey, we need to talk off camera,'" Marlo recalls. "Because if you are my friend ... I want you to say, ‘Marlo, I f**ked up. I f**ked the damn stripper. This b***h Kenya trying to be your friend. Hold me down, if you guys are making up…’ but at least let me know. At least you let me know."
Marlo says she doesn't care what the truth is, she just doesn’t want to be lied to about it. She promises she would’ve kept whatever secrets Porsha wanted locked in the vault in that vault if she had confided in her.
"I didn't care if it was on camera off, I need to look you in your eyes and make sure Kenya is not just trying to really come over here, lie on you, befriend me and turn me against you," she says. "Well, she can't do that. But you're not saying anything. You're not taking up for yourself … and now I'm looking at you kind of funny."
"As soon as I tweeted and posted 'it wasn't me,' it was done," she notes. "I'd never heard from Porsha again ever."
Marlo's referring to social media posts she made after the stripper sex speculation hit gossip sites, with reports questioning who, if anyone, did the deed with Mr. Bolo. Some of the women seemed to believe Kenya orchestrated posts with some of the other ladies, seeing as a few women shared similar messages, but Marlo calls it a coincidence.
"I don't follow anyone," Marlo declares. "I'm the leader. I'm the boss. I'm that girl. I was on the show before Porsha, let's be clear. I have tweets where Porsha has tweeted, ‘I only watch this show because of you.’ I bring the clout. I bring it. I can't be a clout chaser. I'm a loyal friend. Now, I was down for [NeNe Leakes]. You know, she's going by, ‘Oh, she rode NeNe's coattail…’ No, I introduced NeNe to things. I gifted her her first Chanel on TV, you saw that."
Marlo's quoting Porsha's comments on a recent The Real Housewives of Atlanta after-show, in which Porsha said her piece on the intense dinner in New Orleans that sealed the fate of her and Marlo’s friendship. Marlo stormed out of the meal when she felt caught in the middle of Porsha and Kenya’s issues, calling them both "motherf**kers" for treating her the way they have. The incident came just hours after Porsha and Marlo seemingly buried the hatchet with a one-on-one conversation, agreeing to move forward with a clean slate.
"Some people are clout chasers like that," Porsha said, "and if she thought Kenya was gonna be able to ruin my name, ruin me, bring me down, then she was going to the next most powerful thing, that’s who she thought Kenya was. Same way she rode NeNe’s coattail for years. OK? Years."
Marlo says Porsha must not be watching the show, because she in no way linked up with Kenya to tear Porsha down. Marlo points out that Cynthia actually brokered peace between her and Kenya.
"When you see the footage where Cynthia took me down [to Kenya’s room] and we just... it felt good making up with Kenya," Marlo says. "I'm taking baby steps with Kenya, because Kenya really did hurt me. I wish no harm on her, and Porsha, you can't control … who I make-up with and I become friends with again. As long as I'm loyal to you, I feel that's the only thing that matters."
In that same after-show clip, Porsha seemed to allude to Marlo’s past run-ins with the law while addressing the New Orleans dinner.
"We don’t know what Marlo could've done," she said. "This girl is absolutely out of her mind. You have to understand how fast she made the switch. Like, she literally was my friend hours ago. So, it was really shocking to me and it, it was like a big sign, you need to get out of here. This girl could possibly be dangerous. For someone to make a switch that fast."
"I felt that was so distasteful," Marlo fires back. "Who would go and bring up someone’s past, over almost 20 years ago? How dangerous am I when you drug someone just a couple years ago off the couch? How dangerous am I when you fought [your friend] at [Todd Tucker’s] party in the alley when Kandi called you an aggressive lesbian? How dangerous am I when you kicked Cynthia on the boat? And all this happened within a five-year period. You're talking about my things that happened over 15, 20 years ago, but guess what? You're ‘here for social justice.’ You're going to try and bring up my past so many years ago. And this all happened with you within the last five years? Come on, Porsha. Play nice. Play nice."
"So, let's be clear," she adds. "I've been calm. I'm that girl, I'm her. I don't care. How many shows you on? Bravo changed your lifestyle, sweetheart. OK? I came on as that girl. And I'm still that girl. You were renting places. I own my town home. I live within my means, OK? If I lose my job tomorrow, I'm still going to live this fabulous life and drink Veuve."
Marlo says in the months since she and Porsha fell out, she's done a lot of thinking and come to the realization that they never had a true friendship at all. She points to Porsha’s reaction during the season 12 episode where Kenya crashed her wig line launch event with a marching band.
"I played back everything," she says. "Porsha was laying, rolling like a little fat chicken on the floor. She was wobbling and rolling. And my friends called me, my unconditional friends from back home in Florida and my best friend, she's like, ‘I thought you were Porsha were cool.’ I'm like, we were, what's wrong? She's like, ‘Why was she on the floor laughing? At something that's really a part of your livelihood. You're launching a business. It's not like she clowns you, but that was awful what Kenya did.’ And for you to be on the ground laughing?"
Marlo thinks there’s jealousy at play here, too.
"I definitely bring the clout," she says. "We know Porsha admires me. She's copied everything I do except my face. Have you noticed she changed her whole entire face? I don't even know what damn doctor's office is that, where is your new face [from], Porsha? Where is it? But the only thing I want her to copy me with now is to get lipo. She needs lipo, or just stop eating so much."
Lipo, aka liposuction, becomes a hot topic on RHOA starting this Sunday, when Porsha and her bestie Shamea Morton confront Marlo over claims she has "back problems" and that’s why she had to sit out some of the group’s excursions on the New Orleans trip. Porsha and Shamea are convinced that Marlo actually went under the knife just before the vacation, and it was her recovery from liposuction that had her hanging back at the hotel.
"The truth is I've had lipo three times," Marlo reveals. "The truth is I was supposed to get lipo the week before we left for the trip. But the doctor was like, that would be too much… blood clots, traveling. … [So] I went for a consultation, but my appointment got changed."
Marlo claims a girlfriend of Porsha and Shamea who works at Marlo's surgeon’s office told the pair that Marlo got the procedure, but she had her facts wrong, a potential violation of Marlo’s privacy/HIPAA rights. Marlo was apparently never able to get the women to confess from where they got their bad intel, though.
"I wanted them to so bad," she admits. "I'm like, ‘Ooh! You let them say anything. I'm going to be so rich!’ I wanted to, I was waiting at the reunion. I'm like, I hope they got some paperwork. I hope so! My attorney, stay on standby for this."
Marlo says the whole thing was "absolutely" an attempt to set her up as a hypocrite for getting mad at liars, but she maintains she wasn’t lying. As for where things go from here, Marlo’s hopes are not high. She says she’s "angry and disappointed" when it comes to Porsha, especially after seeing the comments she made on the after-show.
"I'm like, OK, enough of me being quiet," she says. "Marlo is coming back now. I've been over here quiet, but come on, b***h, I'm ready now! Put your gloves on. Put them on. Virtual gloves on."
"Porsha, now our friendship is ruined," she admits. "It really hurts. Like, I'm mad. But honestly it really hurts."
As for Kenya, a friendship is still there, but Marlo's keeping her at an arm's length. Marlo says she still does not trust the former Miss USA “100 percent.”
"We just need time," she says. "I just need to know Kenya really is loyal to me. Loyalty is really big when it comes to an Aquarius, and when Kenya didn't invite me to her housewarming party and her birthday party because her and NeNe reunited, that crushed me. Because Kenya and I would be on the phone, she'll be FaceTiming me outfits, I was out in L.A. at her house. I'm like, damn, you really called me and asked me how to decorate your party and you didn't invite me cause you reunited with NeNe? I wasn't going to come and act crazy at your party cause NeNe was there. So, it's going to take time."
Being at the center of so much drama has Marlo ready to claim her peach. For years, fans have wondered why Marlo’s never been upped to a full-time cast member on the show, and for years, Marlo’s never gotten a clear answer. But she says season 13 proves what she brings to the table, and she promises there’s more to show.
"I'm really big on being treated fairly, being loved," she notes. "It's like, do right to me, I'm going to do right to you. And I consider Bravo family. Now I'm not going to sit here like, ‘Oh, Bravo haven't helped me at all…’ They have, it's a great platform. So I would love to have a peach at this point in my life, because guess what? My fans deserve it. I've been around too long for you guys not to really come into this house, see when I'm crying, see when I'm sad, hear me talk to [my adopted nephews’] mom. Just really get to know who is Marlo besides the story people are taking and just painting for you. You don't really get to see me within an hour show, that's edited and I'm not a peach-holder. You know what I mean? You don't get to, it's so much more of me to know."
Marlo just celebrated two years as the legal guardian to two of her nephews, Michael and William. It’s a part of her life she’d love to let the viewers see more of, beyond what she posts on social media.
"At least give me a try," she pleads. "I've seen so many girls go and come. At least let me try. Let me go back to being a friend if it doesn't work."
There’s fan chatter online that RHOA might be due for a reboot after season 13, with some commenters saying they’re ready to see the veteran cast members exit and make room for newbies. Marlo isn’t knocking the idea, but also offers up her own take.
"I would love to see every lady that's on our cast now living their truth," she says. "Be honest. Bring back the old Housewives of Atlanta, bring it back when it was [Phaedra Parks] and NeNe, keep it real. Call me out on s**t."
"We are on the show, and we have to admit it was kind of a snooze fest in the beginning until we got to South Carolina," she continues. "I’m just being honest, and it's because these girls are finally making decent money and they're thinking they’re all that, and they're sitting up on this pedestal and it's like, baby, get you to work and tell your truth and stop making that these fake relationships, these fake stories and be real. Because you're too worried about being politically correct."
"I only can give you what Marlo has, and the real story of Marlo," she says. "You may not relate to it, but guess what? Someone else will. And that's all I can do. These girls, they're just not bringing it like they should."
Marlo gives credit to newbies Drew Sidora and Latoya Ali for bringing something to the table, as the two women continue to find themselves at odds as the season wraps up. Expect a couple more explosive confrontations between the two ahead of the reunion.
"[Latoya], she reminds me of the old Marlo and Kenya," she says. "Young, crazy, raw. You don't know what the hell you're going to get, but I have to say she helped this damn season, how about that? She helped this season."
Marlo says there's more fire courtesy of Latoya at the reunion, too, but she declares someone else the champion of that day.
"You know who the winner would be? I would say that girl Marlo," she quips. "She's such a winner. Oh my God. I would have to say she was the winner."
"B***h, am I ever not the winner?"
The Real Housewives of Atlanta airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo.
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