If you watched last night’s finale of the Real Housewives of Atlanta Season 9 reunion like the many people who tweeted about it, then your conclusion was that Phaedra Parks is the shadiest Southern belle this side (whatever side you live on) of the Mississippi. And for a lawyer who has always had a quick tongue and been good with her words, she was left with very little to say aside from “I screwed up” and giving what felt like hollow apologies to Porsha Williams and Kandi Burruss.
Now that we know that she’s behind the ugly rumor that Burruss and husband Todd Tucker wanted to drug Williams and friend Shamea Morton to take advantage of them, she’s speaking out. And while she can’t explain why she spread the lie that she claims she heard from someone else (my money is still on the idea that she is just that angry with Burruss), she believes that everything happens for a reason, so she has no regrets.
“What’s meant to happen will happen,” Parks told PEOPLE. “They say you’re set up to step up for the next thing, right? I know that I’m fortunate. I know that good things happen to me because I have my feet on frugal ground. I can’t regret anything, but I know it was destined to happen.”
There have been rumors over the last few months that Parks will not be brought back for Season 10. And while that’s been neither confirmed or denied by Parks or RHOA producers (they reportedly haven’t made all of their casting decisions yet), she’s still hopeful that she will be back. This, despite a rocky couple of seasons.
“I would love to continue,” she said to the publication. “Obviously the show documents your journey, and every journey has its ups and downs.”
She continued, “It’s not always accurate, of course. But for the moments that they capture something that’s real — like being a mom, helping someone out, having a very sensitive moment on television that turns into something beautiful — that’s the legacy that counts when it comes to reality TV. The moments that change people’s lives.”
If she can continue with the show, Parks plans to show a more positive side of herself and Black women than what we usually see on a lot of reality TV.
“I really want to show that you can be well-educated, you can be a professional and you can solve conflicts without being ratchet,” she said. “You can be a lady, you can have dignity in your dealings — whether it be personal or professional. I think sometimes as Black women, we’re stereotyped in categories of being overly sexualized, of being the aggressive Black woman and of being this ratchet sort of character that doesn’t know how to behave herself.”
“I want people to know that there is definitely a real kind of Black woman who conducts herself in a certain way,” the 43-year-old added. “She’s not out here screaming and cursing and acting crazy. She does things differently, and people love her for it.”
You’re probably thinking, as am I, that just because a woman doesn’t yell, curse and fight on TV doesn’t mean she can’t portray herself and the rest of us in a negative way. I mean, spreading a very slanderous lie about a former friend with the intent to hurt is a pretty terrible thing, too. Either way, she says she wants to be a part of sharing more positive images.
“We have to show more images of that,” she said. “So that people don’t believe that the only way you can be successful and be on TV is by fighting and being a crazy character of a person — versus being very real and saying, ‘Hey, at a certain age you don’t have to raise your voice. You can think before you speak. You can articulate a problem. And you can either agree to disagree or you can resolve it.’ You don’t have to go to extremes every time you have an issue.”
With her friendship with Williams on the rocks right now and any future reconciliation with Burruss pretty much dead and buried, it might seem like Parks is on her own out here. But she told PEOPLE that she has plenty of positive people in her corner, including her family and closest friends you don’t really get to see.
“I’ve had great friends since I was a little girl, I’m very close with my parents and I’m constantly bringing people into my circle who believe my vision and support my vision and who I believe are positive people,” Parks said. “I have a great sense of faith and I have a great sense of humor.”
Image via Splash
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