Kandi Burruss shut down the rumors that she wasn’t asked back for the next season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta.
The now-alum appeared on Nick Viall’s podcast. She spoke about her decision to leave the beloved series after several years in front of the camera. “They didn’t pause me; I paused myself, to be clear. Andy [Cohen] was actually sad that I left,” she said on a new episode of The Viall Files. “He and I had our heart-to-heart before anybody else in the world knew. We had our own moment.”
Kandi, was part of the Real Housewives franchise for 14 years. She announced her departure during the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, pointing to her desire to grow outside of reality television. “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,” she said.
Kandi details her decision to walk away from The Real Housewives of Atlanta
Since there’s always chatter regarding which Housewives were let go and which walked away, Kandi made things abundantly clear. “It was my choice whether to go back. It wasn’t just they sent me a pickup letter and I have to go back, like, how it is most of the time,” she said. “The more months went by, the more I started thinking, ‘You know what? If I was ever to go after some of these things I really want to do, I need to do it now.’”
And for those thinking Kandi quit the show over salary issues, that also couldn’t be further from the truth.
“I don’t know what anybody else’s check is. And I don’t go into asking what anybody else’s check is, and I don’t like for them to ask about mine. So, it wasn’t about the money,” Kandi stated. “It’s not that I don’t need it; who doesn’t need money? I just decided that right now, I wanted to take this moment to go after the other things I really wanted.”
So far, the only confirmed cast member of RHOA Season 16 is Porsha Williams. She’s going through a messy divorce from Simon Guobadia. Marlo Hampton, the series’ fashionista and dedicated pot-stirrer, also shared her plans to take a break.
For now, fans are waiting for the next bit of news, but according to Andy’s recent casting update, we’re in for a treat.
Stream previous seasons of RHOA on Peacock.
TELL US — WHAT DO YOU THINK OF KANDI’S REVELATION? DID YOU THINK SHE WAS FIRED?
