I had the chance this afternoon to see the Season 9 Real Housewives of Atlanta reunion specials, which are always entertaining (folks can’t talk behind each other’s backs anymore). One major theme in each episode seemed to be putting Phaedra Parks on blast for things she said (particularly about others and her divorce), as well as things her frick-and-frack friend Porsha Williams said (and didn’t say) throughout the season.
The biggest bombshell of all was that Williams only pushed this whole story about Kandi Burruss wanting to drug her to take her home for a threesome with Todd Tucker because Parks told her that. We won’t know for sure how things play out after that admission until next Sunday’s part four finale, but that doesn’t mean Parks isn’t already trying to clear her name.
In an interview with PEOPLE where Parks talked about all of the positive things she does for the community through her organization, the Phaedra Foundation, she was asked about the accusations against her. She made it seem like, per the usual, she doesn’t have time to spread defamatory statements about people. She has way too many jobs for that.
“It’s funny to think that I have any additional time to be caught up in gossip,” she said. “I have several jobs, as we know, and I have two small children. But I think everyone always has to blame someone.”
You’re probably thinking, “But we saw you, sis!” However, Parks says the footage shows that she has done a lot more than sit around spilling tea about other people’s lives. She takes a jab as if to say that’s more up Burruss’s alley.
“I’m sure the footage speaks for itself,” Parks said. “My every scene is not talking about anyone on the show except for what’s going on in my personal life. Others can’t stop mentioning me. Their whole family mentions me. They’re [sic] whole staff mentions me. It’s just endless mentioning of me!”
Another big topic of the conversation surrounding Parks is the belief that she wants to always appear as the sweet Southern belle but lives anything but a sweet, let alone honest life. It’s more on the scandalous side.
“People are constantly talking about, ‘Oh you’re not this.’ And I’m like, ‘Wow — it’s so many people with this Christian handbook that I have not received,'” she said. “So I’ve been praying that whoever owns the Christian dress code and has the handbook, they just send me a copy. Because I don’t see anywhere in the Bible where it lays out these strict guidelines about laughing and having fun and wearing bathing suits. Where did they get this dress code for being Christian? I thought it was about your hearts.”
She added, “Sometimes, if people don’t have anything concrete, they just attack your character. But my character speaks for itself. Anyone who knows me knows I’m very gracious, I’m very helpful. And a lot of the things I do for people, you never see it on camera. Because that is not my intention to get praise for it. My intention is to be a vessel and be used for the purpose of empowering people.”
A few of the accusations against her or moments where she’s been confronted during the reunion have literally left Parks without her usually witty and shady comebacks. However, she believes her co-stars need to be less concerned with her and more concerned with helping others.
“These girls always have something to say,” Parks said. “But I want to know what their philanthropic portfolio looks like.”
As for Burruss, who went from Parks’s best friend to frenemy, she is just glad the truth is out. She said learning that Parks was the one who may have started the rumor left her “disgusted.”
“I was shocked, angry, disgusted… I could go on. Even with everything that had happened between me and Phaedra, I still didn’t think Phaedra would go so low as to tell someone that I wanted to drug them,” Burruss said in her Bravo blog today. “Being an attorney, you would think she wouldn’t intentionally spread defamatory false statements about someone. The sad thing was that she didn’t even seem sorry for what she had done. I was thinking, ‘Damn, was there a reason to hate me this much?’ She already assisted Johnnie in helping him to meet an attorney to sue me, and now I find out she was spreading accusations that I want to drug people and take them home! This is too much. I’m so glad the truth finally came out and I’m glad to be able to move on from this. Thank you to everyone who remained #TeamKandi, especially when others were believing the lies!”
Interesting indeed. Where do you stand on these shenanigans?
Image via WENN
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