No need to bring your sunnies, because the entire city of Atlanta seems to be covered in shade. On the Sunday, November 5, premiere of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, the women wasted no time getting down to business. Cynthia Bailey was celebrating turning 50 (even though that happened a while ago). Kandi Burruss and Porsha Williams were still not (really) speaking. And Kenya Moore was married to someone she only referred to as “Baby” (or “Baebae,” depending on your preference).
In addition to still being sore with Porsha over their last falling out, Kandi was busy running the restaurant she and her husband, Todd Tucker, had opened. It seemed that business was booming, with lines wrapping around the block, but Kandi was struggling to balance her professional and personal life. “To be honest, I feel like I’ve sucked lately, because all of our extra time has been at the restaurant,” Kandi confessed to the camera.
Kenya Got Married
NeNe Leakes went over to Cynthia’s house to catch up and Cynthia promptly informed her that Kenya had gotten married. They didn’t have long to gossip, though, because Kenya showed up about two minutes later to confirm the news herself. To the camera, Kenya revealed that she’d met her husband when she visited one of his restaurants in New York.
To the girls, she explained that she “eloped” and therefore “didn’t invite anybody.” NeNe and Cynthia both seemed relatively unimpressed with that choice, but said they understood. They seemed even less impressed, however, when Kenya insisted that no one use her new spouse’s real name and instead only called him “Baby.” *Insert eye roll here.*
Later, Sheree Whitfield stopped by NeNe’s new boutique to look around and make passive aggressive comments — oh, and also to catch up. NeNe told Sheree that Kenya had gotten married and Sheree said it was about time Kenya got married since everyone claimed she had been renting boyfriends for ages. She did think that using his real name would help convince people this one was for real, though.
Porsha Is Still Hurting
During a podcast (apparently she had her own podcast now), Porsha advised a listener to avoid working with friends. Porsha said in a confessional that she had pretty much “locked it down” when it came to getting new friends. In other words, she didn’t trust anyone anymore. It seemed that the wounds Phaedra Parks had left last season still ran deep.
Porsha then told her sister, Lauren, that Phaedra had reached out to her “about four or five times” to try to rekindle their friendship. She added that she wasn’t ready or interested.
Kenya Breaks the News to Her Father
It seemed that her friends weren’t the only people Kenya had kept in the dark about her nuptials. Kenya’s father called and asked what happened, at which point she told him her news. “I’m sorry you missed it because I really wanted you there,” she said as she broke down in tears.
“Do I regret not having my dad walk me down the aisle? Yes,” she said to the camera. “Every little girl wants their dad to walk them down the aisle.” Still, she insisted she couldn’t have risked her dad ruining her big day. Miraculously, her chat with him went pretty smoothly and they ended on a good note. That was about the only tense discussion that had a happy ending, though.
What’s a Party Without a Little Shade?
In honor of her birthday, Cynthia arranged a “50 Shades of Cynthia” party. Female guests were required to dress up as their favorite version of Cynthia. As she got ready for the big event, Cynthia checked in with her ex-husband, Peter Thomas, to see if he was coming. “Now that we are officially divorced, we just talk all the time,” Cynthia admitted. It turned out that Peter couldn’t make it and Cynthia was visibly bummed – even though her daughter encouraged her to stop “stalking” Peter and move on, which is probably good advice.
Kenya and Kandi were among the first to arrive, though Kandi showed up with a chip on her shoulder – and that chip was all about Kenya. “When I first heard about Kenya’s secret wedding, I really thought it was BS,” Kandi said to the camera. “I should really be able to get this information from you, and not the blogs.”
Shortly after Sheree and Porsha arrived, Cynthia directed all of the women to strut their stuff in their best runway show so she could pick the best “Cynthia.” Kandi won but she wasn’t that excited because she desperately wanted to get away from Porsha. NeNe was also butting heads with Porsha.
“There are lots of things that need to be discussed,” NeNe said. “The last things that were done and not being a friend were just about three weeks ago,” Porsha replied, referring, apparently, to a comment NeNe made during a TV appearance in which she said (or implied) that Porsha should be fired from the show. “I never used the word fired,” NeNe insisted. She added that she wanted to talk about “everything” and not just what had happened in recent weeks.
“Our problems started two years ago when I tried to give you some advice that you didn’t want to receive,” NeNe said to the camera. No word on what Cynthia thought of this turn of events … yet.
Tell Us: Do you think Nene overstepped by implying Porsha should be fired from the show?
The Real Housewives of Atlanta airs on Bravo at 8 p.m. ET.
