Spilling The Tea! The 14 Most Outrageous 'Real Housewives Of Atlanta' Secrets & Scandals Of All Time
Sep. 22 2016, Updated 3:02 p.m. ET
Love them or loathe them, you just can't ignore The Real Housewives of Atlanta. NeNe Leakes and her fellow Georgia peaches have been wowing fans since the series first aired in 2008. And it has risen to become one of the nation's most-talked about reality TV shows. Here are just a few reasons why…
Bravo – the network that airs RHOA – was accused of bad taste when posters, seemingly promoting the show popped up around Atlanta. The tagline read "Black Wives Matter" – obviously a play on the slogan adopted by campaigners highlighting the recent high profile deaths of unarmed black men. But the station was quick to deny any association with the offensive photo and released a statement in January 2015, saying, "Bravo had no involvement in these posters – they were not created by or are in any way affiliated with the network."
Like most reality TV shows, RHOA has faced its share of fakery claims – some of which have come from the cast themselves. In April 2014 Leakes tweeted – then quickly deleted – a screen grab of a text message exchange between herself and former friend Cynthia Bailey, purportedly showing they had discussed calling each other's husband "bitches" on screen. Bailey, however, claimed during the reunion show that it was one of the reasons why their friendship had dissolved.
Controversy and scandal aside, the fans obviously like the RHOA. In November 2014, viewing figures for the first show of the seventh season brought Bravo the best numbers the network has ever had for a season premiere. A whopping 3.8 million viewers tuned in to see what Leakes, Bailey, Kenya Moore and the others were up to, and 2.2 million of those were in the highly sought-after 18-49 age range.
Not everyone is cut out to be a RHOA cast member. One of the original stars of the show – DeShawn Snow – was ditched after the first series, which aired in 2008. In a 2009 interview with Essence, she alleged a producer claimed she was let go because she was "too human for a circus show." She told the magazine, "They are about to pump up the drama and they didn't think that I would fit in."
Tameka Foster – Usher's ex-wife – was reportedly approached to join the show too. Addressing the rumors back in 2009, she told E! News, "While I am flattered at the rumor circulating about being considered to join the cast of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, I am absolutely not joining the cast. I was initially approached by the producers for last season and declined."
Rumors are always swirling about how much cash the RHOA cast make. In 2013, a source told Us Weekly that Leakes, Kandi Burruss and Kim Zolciak all earned $800,000 per season, while Phaedra Parks and Porsha Williams made just $50,000. However, the show's executive producer Andy Cohen took to Twitter to blast those claims telling fans, "I'll let you know when there's a correct article about Bravo stars and salaries."
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The RHOA has earned quite a celebrity following since it first aired on Bravo in 2008. Famous fans include Anderson Cooper, Kelly Ripa, Jonah Hill, Naomi Campbell, P. Diddy, Patti LaBelle, actress Regina King and the Millionaire Matchmaker herself Patti Stanger.
But the show also has its celebrity critics. During a recent interview with Fusion TV, Do The Right Thing director Spike Lee called RHOA the "destruction of the modern world."
Ebony magazine faced a firestorm of criticism in 2012 when it featured Leakes – bathing in a tub of diamonds and holding a glass of bubbly – on the cover of its Power & Respect issue. One commentator wrote on TheYBF.com, where the cover first appeared, "Ebony couldn't get ANYONE else on the cover???"
Part of the Real Housewives brand is that it follows the lives of affluent women. However, shortly after the first season began in 2008, Jezebel claimed the RHOA cast members were more "broke" wives than "housewives." The website claimed that four out of the five women featured had financial woes at that time.
Parks' estranged husband Apollo Nida is currently serving eight years in prison for bank fraud. But he isn't the only cast member with a checkered legal history. In 1992, Leakes was arrested and pled guilty to one misdemeanor and three felony counts of "theft of services" for ripping off her phone company. Over the next two years, she was arrested three more times for probation violations. Meanwhile, her sometimes friend Marlo Hampton – who also appears on the show – has been arrested at least seven times for, among other things, aggravated battery and great bodily harm.
Critics – both in the media and the African-American community – have slammed RHOA for spreading the "Angry Black Woman" myth. In November 2014, while social media was abuzz with the infamous fight between Moore and Williams on the reunion show, TheRoot.com challenged the show's producers to "take responsibility for the real-world impact of their manipulations and move beyond a reliance on one-dimensional, unfair, degrading depictions of African-Americans.
RHOA has had its fair share of tragedy including the death of Ashley Jewell, the former fiancé of Burruss who frequently appeared on the show. He died in 2009 after being beaten during a brawl outside an Atlanta strip club. Burruss released a statement through her publicist saying she was "stunned and speechless."
Original cast member – and the only white star of RHOA – Kim Zolciak has been accused of racism, a charge she has frequently denied. Her accusers include her off-and-on BFF Leakes, who once called the blonde out for implying that Burruss didn't need to tan because she's black. In 2012 Leakes tweeted, "Racist comments! I been telling y'all this 4 a while now."