Kandi Burruss’s Exit Is Death Knell for ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’

By Emma Chance | Celebrity | February 5, 2024 |

By Emma Chance | Celebrity | February 5, 2024 |

Kandi Burruss is to Real Housewives of Atlanta what Kyle Richards is to Real Housewives of Beverly Hills: the protagonist, the audience stand-in, and oftentimes the omniscient narrator. She’s been on the show since the beginning and has real clout attached to her name as a songwriter and musician, which was often the source of conflict between her and her castmates. They just weren’t, aren’t, and never have been on her level. And now, she says she’s leaving.

She broke the news on the red carpet at last night’s Grammy’s.

“I’m not really keeping up right now,” she said in response to questions about the show. “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 excited about those things.”

RHOA has been on the rocks for a while after low ratings for recent seasons, and so filming has been on hiatus; hence the sitting around she refers to. Bravo has said they’d be rebooting the cast, though just what that means remains unclear.

“But it’s not just that,” Kandi said. “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 like 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.”

She spoke to Andy Cohen about it, and he was supportive but assured her Bravo was her “family” and that she could always come back. He took to Instagram to post his appreciation for Burruss.

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A post shared by Andy Cohen (@bravoandy)

With her gone, I’m guessing we’re gonna get another Real Housewives of New York City situation.