Phaedra Parks is telling me about the Real Housewives of Atlanta cast trip that she crashes. There’s lots of crying and lots of twerking. “Boobs everywhere,” she says. “If I was a baby, I would have been in heaven.”
The trip is a return to RHOA‘s glory days, Parks insists. “It’s very reminiscent of the classic group trips, like our first trip to Africa,” she says, referencing a simpler—and grainier—time for Bravo in 2012.
But 13 years have passed since that trip, during which Parks’ position on the show cratered. In 2017, Parks told her friend Porsha Williams that Kandi Burruss had tried to drug her, take her to a “sex dungeon,” and rape her. Williams finally revealed the lie’s source at the Season 9 reunion, where Parks mostly denied and deflected. Burruss threatened to leave if Parks returned—and with that, Parks was gone.
But, on the eve of her momentous Season 16 return, Parks doesn’t want to talk about any of that. When I bring up her past indiscretions, Parks bristles. She calls me “messy boots” and even threatens to spank me with a paddle. What she does want to talk about, it seems, is her star power. “I think I’m TV gold, and most people know that,” Park says. “You show up and do a great job, the phone will continue to ring.”
I ask Parks about her relationship with Williams between 2017 and now. She says that they saw each other “several times”—ignoring any friendship blowup from Season 9—and pointed out that a “serious conversation” with Williams got Parks to commit to returning. What did that conversation entail?
“You don’t need to know!” Parks quips. “It was a conversation about wanting me to come back, so it was good thing. We went to New York and had a great time.”
Parks loves to reference conversations had, but not provide the details of what was said. She does it again when referring to NeNe Leakes, who recently has been mending her relationship with NBCUniversal and her castmates.
“NeNe and I spoke for about two-and-a-half hours a few days ago,” Parks says. “I’m definitely in touch with her. She’s doing great.”
But, when I ask what their call was about, Parks tightens up. “You’re so nosy!” she complains, before offering a perfectly vague answer: “It was about life, you know, and different opportunities.”
Parks also neglects to mention the darker parts of her relationship with Leakes, like when Leakes said that “Freak and Fraud” should be fired on Watch What Happens Live. Should Leakes return to RHOA? “That’s not really my decision. I’m an employee, not the boss,” Parks says.
I keep prying. What about her relationship with Bravo? She did, after all, blame producer Carlos King for her season nine downfall. But now Parks calls me “messy boots,” and explains that she’s been friends with Andy Cohen “for eons” and has “never not been friends” with him.
Parks lets down her guard while talking about Ultimate Girls Trip. She and Vicky Gunvalson are still “extremely close,” and Tamra Judge “always supports” her, even coming to a Dancing With The Stars taping. She’s close with Eva Marceille’s family, noting that she “spoke to her brother yesterday.” Jill Zarin? She’s a “hoot.”
But Parks glosses over the messiness of her Girl’s Trip experience. She and Brandi Glanville “just talked last night”—even though Glanville attempted to sue Parks’ current employer. “I obviously did a second installment of Girl’s Trip,” she says, not acknowledging that the season remains unreleased due to legal tie-ups.
The Traitors is easier territory for Parks. The experience was wholly positive, winning her some everlasting memes, a spot on Dancing With The Stars, and ultimately a springboard to Bravo with Married to Medicine. “It was really my parents who said, ‘You’re going to do it,’” she remembers. “In 48 hours, I got everything done and headed to Scotland. It was a whirlwind, but hands down my favorite project I’ve ever worked on.”
She keeps in touch with her Traitors co-stars, too. Ayden said he wanted to be a pilot—so Parks reached out to Pilot Pete himself. She spoke with Parvati “about doing some things together” just a few days prior, and remembers fondly her “Bergalicious.”
Yes, Parks watched Season 3. She’s proud of Dolores Catania, and devastated by Dorinda Medley’s early exit. “There’s nothing better than Dorinda,” she says. “That’s my sweetie.”
We circle back to RHOA—and Parks’ smile recedes into a grimace. What did she think of the fallout between Kenya Moore and Brit Eady, which led to Moore’s firing? “You are messy!” she says. “Where’s my paddle? You need a spanking. And you’d probably like it, I think.”
Finally, I ask about her Season 9 exit. Parks looks down at the Cheez-It Snap’d bags in front of her—“It’s baked and not fried!” she later tells me—and frowns.
“Get to the bag,” she demands. And with that, our interview is over.
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