Phaedra Parks has come home. The reality TV personality has returned to “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” amid a rocky production of the show’s 16th season. Parks, who is currently a full-time cast member on Bravo’s “Married to Medicine,” announced her return in a glamorous Instagram post.
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Parks wrote in the caption, “You called, I answered.” Officially returning as a full-time cast member, Parks will once again hold a “peach,” which she rocks in full display in the image. As PEOPLE Magazine points out, the news comes just one month after Kenya Moore’s shocking departure from “RHOA” while in the middle of shooting the sixteenth season.
But how did Parks, who infamously left the series in one of the most controversial exits in Housewives history, successfully find herself back into the fold?
Parks may have left Bravo, but she never fully left our TV screens since her wild departutre in 2017. As fans may remember, Parks was involved in one of the biggest “Housewives” scandals, when the housewife admitted to spreading rumors that her castmate at the time Kandi Burruss (and her husband Todd Tucker) planned to drug Porsha Williams and Shamea Morton Mwangi (who are both set to return in the show’s upcoming season) and take advantage of them sexually.
After her sudden departure from the series, Parks appeared on other shows on different networks, including “Marriage Boot Camp: Hip Hop Edition,” as PEOPLE reports, keeping her name in the mix as the “RHOA” moved on without her. In 2022, however, after the uproar around Phaedra as a Housewife died down a bit, Parks made her grand return to the Bravo universe.
She joined the second season of Peacock’s “All-Stars” style Real Housewives series, “Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: Ex-Wives Club,” appearing alongside other former (fired) Real Housewives from “Atlanta,” “Orange County,” “Beverly Hills” and “New York.” While she still skirted around discussing anything about her controversial departure and relationship with Burruss, her appearance certainly was a success, as fans gratefully welcomed back Parks’ signature wit and lethal confessionals.
After her reintroduction, it seems Bravo was ready to bet on Phaedra again, but not on “The Real Housewives” just yet. Instead, Parks joined “Married To Medicine,” another popular series on the network, in 2023. While fans still wonder why Parks joined the series dedicated to doctors and wives of doctors, viewers were still happy to get her back on their screens, this time appearing alongside Quad Webb, Dr. Heavenly, and the rest of the “M2M” gang. Then came her biggest pop culture moment yet: “The Traitors.”
In season 2 of Peacock’s U.S. version of “The Traitors,” Parks delivered an all-time reality performance, competing against other reality stars in a series wrapped in deception and mystery. Delivering laugh-out-loud moments and stellar gameplay, Parks kicked off 2024 as what many deemed the breakout star of the crowded show.
As PEOPLE reports, season 11 of “Married to Medicine” just wrapped filming and is expected to air later this year, which means Parks will appear as a full-time castmember on both “M2M” and “RHOA” at the same time, a first for the network.
Parks’ grand return to the fold begs the question: Did she play the long game, or is the timing right? Parks has always been a beloved fixture in the franchise, but her exit in 2017 was certainly an appropriate one from the view of fans. A move like bringing back Parks is a big one, and one that should be saved when the time is right. It seems now, more than ever, it may be that time for “RHOA.”
As The Root previously reported, the show has gone through shake up after shake up, leaving many to ask what the future of “Atlanta” will really look like. Many of Parks’ contemporaries on the show are now longer around (NeNe Leakes infamously left “RHOA” under precarious circumstances, taking legal action against both the production company, fans are still in the wake of Kenya Moore’s messy exit this season and Kandi Burruss seemingly left the building as the network figured out what to do next).
This new iteration of the series certainly has some momentum behind it. The current cast includes Williams, Morton Mwangi, and Parks, returning castmembers Drew Sidora and Cynthia Bailey (friend of), and newcomers Brittany Eady, Kelli Ferrell, and Angela Oakley. Will they successfully bring “RHOA” back to its glory days, or pave something new entirely? Time will tell.
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