Cynthia Bailey discussed during a recent interview with E! News’ “Daily Pop” the sole reason behind her departure from “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” after 11 years.
The former reality star announced she was leaving the franchise last week in a lengthy Instagram post.
Bailey told the program that despite her announcement being a bittersweet moment, it was time for her transition onto different ventures. “It was time, it was honestly time. I had been thinking about it for a while, just the whole transition. I knew it wasn’t going to last forever. I knew I didn’t want to do it forever.”
She added, “Ten years is a good run, but that said, with me just thinking about it, then the whole thing happened with us going on hiatus so it gave me more time to think about it and then I got really used to not going back.”
Prior to making her official decision to leave the show, Bailey revealed that the network offered a “friend contract” for season 14. Although at first she wanted to consider the opportunity so that she can transition off the series completely, the model ultimately turned it down.
“Ironically, I actually introduced the friend contract on the show, but that’s neither here nor there, and I thought, ‘You know what? That may be a perfect way for me to transition. I don’t have to commit completely fully to being a Housewife, and I can be a friend and kind of phase myself off the show.’ And then I decided, you know what, cut the cord.”
Also during her appearance on “Daily Pop,” Bailey opened up about reuniting with her former friend Nene Leakes. This event took place at The Linnethia Lounge in September, weeks after Leakes’ husband Gregg succumbed to his colon cancer battle. She revealed in the interview that the pair hadn’t seen each other in “couple years” following their 2018 fallout. Bailey and Leakes were at odds after the model allegedly invited Leake’s arch-nemesis Kenya Moore to an event without informing her.
“I was devastated for Nene when Gregg passed. I was there, I was a very good friend of hers when she found out he had cancer. So I kind of been along this journey with her the entire time… My husband and I were not able to make it to the celebration. So it was weighting on me because I wanted that moment but I didn’t know what that moment will feel like with her because we are not friends anymore.
Bailey added that Marlo Hampton helped reunite the two women. The 54-year-old stated that because she was a mediator in the past when Leakes and Hampton would have their own issues, the “RHOA” star owed her a favor.
While Bailey expressed that she was “nervous” about the encounter, she said everything changed when she and Leakes had “a moment.”
“It was just a mess. By the time I saw her it was a moment. It was a little awkward at first but after 10 minutes, we were fine…Then we pretty much closed the Linnethia Lounge. It was good.”
