Kandi Burruss announced that she will not be returning to “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” the Bravo reality series she has appeared on since 2009. She discussed her decision with editor Marc Malkin for Variety’s On the Carpet, presented by DIRECTV, at the Grammys on Sunday.
“I’m not really keeping up right now,” she said, when asked about the show. “I’m not keeping up. I already said it, so I’ll tell you. I decided I’m not coming back this year. It’s been 14 seasons, and they allowed us to sit around for a little too long, but during that time I had started working on a lot of other things, and I got some nice big projects coming soon, so I’m super excited about those things.
“But it’s not just that,” she continued. “It’s just like, after you really have time to think, and a friend of mine was like, ‘Why do you keep doing it?’ And I was like, ‘Well, I think because I’ve just been doing it for so long, it feels weird to think not to do it?’ So I was just like, ‘You know what? I’m going to take a break, I’m going to take a moment… I’m not coming back this year.’”
After the largely lifeless Season 15 of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” concluded in September of last year, Bravo made it known that the cast would be retooled, if not have a top to bottom overhaul — as had happened to “The Real Housewives of New York City” before its 14th season. It’s believed that the network is close to announcing the show’s new cast, and that it won’t be a full reboot: a few key cast members will return.
With this announcement, however, Burruss clearly won’t be among them.
Burruss, a singer and songwriter, joined “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” during the second season and is the longest-serving cast member. Beyond reality television, she is a founding member of R&B group Xscape, as well as a celebrated songwriter, with co-writing credits on hits such as TLC’s “No Scrubs” and Destiny’s Child’s “Bills, Bills, Bills.
Over the course of her years on the show, she met and married her husband Todd Tucker, an “RHOA” producer, and they’ve had two children together. Burruss has starred in three spinoffs from “RHOA,” including “Kandi’s Wedding,” which revolved around her wedding to Tucker.
She has been known for exploiting the Bravo platform to its fullest, launching several successful Atlanta restaurants, as well as the sex toy company Bedroom Kandi.
When Burruss was honored during Variety‘s Women in Reality event in November, she recalled that her hardest time on the show was when her fellow castmate Phaedra Parks — who is currently starring on “The Traitors” — had planted a rumor then spread by cast member Porsha Williams that she and Tucker had drugged and sexually assaulted women.
“I would say one of my worst years on the show was when we were accused of drugging somebody,” Burruss said during a panel. “I mean, I don’t even like to talk about it, really, to be honest with you. It was a crazy situation that just exploded, and a situation I never thought I’d see myself in, happening on the show. And that was one the times where I really felt like, ‘I can’t do this anymore.’ But we made it through.”
Watch Burruss talk about leaving the show below.
