‘RHOA’: Kandi Burruss Confirms She Would Leave if Phaedra Parks Returns: ‘I Don’t Think She and I Need to Interact’
Grammy Award winner and The Real Housewives of Atlanta’s longest remaining cast member, Kandi Burruss, still hasn’t mended her friendship with alum Phaedra Parks, who exited the series five years ago, and seemingly has no desire to anytime soon. In fact, the Kandi & The Gang star admitted she would leave the Bravo franchise if her former friend returned to the series.
Kandi Burruss will leave ‘RHOA’ if Phaedra Parks returns
The Real Housewives executive producer Andy Cohen has expressed his interest in having Phaedra Parks return to the Atlanta installment.
However, Kandi Burruss, the installment’s longest-running cast member, revealed during a March 2022 episode of the It’s Tricky with Raquel Harper podcast that she would leave the Bravo franchise if the alum came back for another season.
In 2015, the former friends’ relationship began to sour before their tension peaked in 2017. During season 9, Parks made allegations that resulted in her dismissal from the reality TV series and marked the end of their friendship.
Five years following her exit from the franchise, Burruss has no intentions of repairing their relationship or having anything to do with her, telling Harper, “I don’t think she and I need to interact.”
Kandi Burruss and Phaedra Parks’ friendship soured during Parks’ divorce
Burruss became a Housewife during season 2 in 2009, followed shortly by Parks, who joined the cast in season 3 (2010). The two developed a very close friendship and they often filmed together.
However, their friendship weakened as the friends stopped hanging out as much. Instead, Parks began spending more time with Porsha Williams, leading Burruss to develop a closer bond with co-star Kenya Moore.
The start of their years-long feud began when Parks felt Burruss sided with her ex-husband Apollo Nidia during the downfall of their marriage and didn’t support her.
Additionally, the former attorney didn’t appreciate Burruss questioning her choice not to take her sons to see Nidia in prison and didn’t like how her friend spoke about her ending marriage. Their friendship took another hit when Burruss and Tucker confronted Parks over money she owed him for producing a workout video. The producer eventually received his payment in full.
Parks was fired from ‘RHOA’ after starting rumors about Burruss
In 2017, their feud went to unforeseen lengths when Parks told Williams that Burruss planned to drug and take advantage of her, allegations the Xscape singer denied.
It eventually came to light that the businesswoman started the rumors during the RHOA Season 9 reunion, resulting in Burruss emotionally leaving the stage.
Due to the damaging contents of her accusations, Parks was fired from the show and still seemingly hasn’t patched things up with Burruss or Williams.
In November 2021, the attorney revealed she wouldn’t return to the series due to her children. However, she will appear in the upcoming second season of the Peacock spinoff series, The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip. Burruss is currently starring in her own spinoff, Kandi & The Gang, which airs Sundays on Bravo.
