It’s official: Kandi Burruss is leaving The Real Housewives of Atlanta after being the franchise’s longest-running cast member in history.
The news came Sunday evening while Kandi attended the 66th Annual Grammy Awards. After many months of waiting and weighing her options, the Grammy winner told Variety that now was the best time to step away from the series. “I’m not really keeping up right now,” she said about the show.
“I’m not keeping up. I already said it, so I’ll tell you. 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 super excited about those things.
Kandi Burruss quits RHOA: What’s next for the new cast?
Kandi joined RHOA in Season 2, and since then, she’s remained on the series while starring in many Housewives-related spinoffs, Broadway musicals, scripted television programs, and so much more. Although the No Scrubs writer was critical of Bravo for making the cast wait so long in between seasons, the space to think about her next move ended up beneficial.
“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 just 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.’”
It feels weird closing the chapter on Kandi after so long, but this may be the right move (for now). According to Kenya Moore, Bravo is gearing up to announce the Season 16 cast soon. Among those eligible to return are Drew Sidora, Sanya Richards-Ross, Marlo Hampton, Shereé Whitfield, and, of course, Miss Twirl herself.
TELL US — ARE YOU SAD KANDI IS LEAVING RHOA? ARE YOU SHOCKED BY THIS ANNOUNCEMENT?
