Phaedra Parks is returning to The Real Housewives of Atlanta for season 16.
“You called. I answered 🍑#RHOA #S16,” Parks, 50, wrote in a joint Instagram post with Bravo on Monday, July 29.
In the image, Parks held a peach as she stepped out of an airplane with her luggage surrounding the staircase.
Parks first joined RHOA in 2010. After seven years on the series, Parks was fired by the network for spreading rumors about costar Kandi Burruss and her husband, Todd Tucker, allegedly wanting to drug Porsha Williams. (Burruss and Tucker denied the claims repeatedly.)
News of Parks’ return broke one month after Kenya Moore’s exit from RHOA. Moore, 53, allegedly unveiled “explicit pictures” of cast member Brittany Eady while cameras were rolling at the grand opening of Moore’s Kenya Moore Hair Spa in Georgia. People reported that the images showed Eady “performing oral sex on an unnamed male.”
“Thank you for all the support #teamtwirl. My heart is full and my conscience is clean,” Moore shared via Instagram in June. “So many false claims hiding behind anonymous sources. All this conversation and no facts being reported. If a claim or source was valid, would they need to hide?”
Moore captioned the upload, “The rumors and narrative about me randomly showing nudes or revenge p[orn] is 1000% untrue. I have proof and will share soon.”
Bravo launched an investigation into the release of the photos, which People reported was the result of her departure from the series.
Shortly before Moore’s social media post, an insider with knowledge of the situation told Us Weekly that she wouldn’t be appearing in upcoming episodes, which are set to air in 2025. A separate source told Us that “a return hasn’t been discussed.”
When news of her alleged misconduct first surfaced in June, Moore denied it in a statement via X.
“I would never engage in revenge porn, I have never distributed private images or footage of anyone, nor solicited images owned by others to use to threaten or blackmail,” she wrote. “I have always been vindicated. I can’t talk about STORY even with people planting fake news #sweet16🔥.”
Amid the controversy, Burruss came to Moore’s defense. “I don’t like the fact that they suspended Kenya. I know a lot of people was like ‘she shouldn’t have shown that’ but this is housewives,” she said during a radio interview with the “Streetz Morning Takeover” radio show in June. “How many times we done did something that you think somebody shouldn’t do? So who made the rules? Why do you all of a sudden got such an issue with somebody doing something crazy to somebody?”
Moore and Parks have had their own feud over the years, but seemingly ended things. “Honestly, we don’t have a relationship. but we’ve been on each other’s social media and we’ve made jokes and stuff. So I think it’s pretty cordial,” Moore said of Parks on Watch What Happens Live in 2021
Parks’ return to the franchise comes after Burruss’ exit, which was announced in February. After a hiatus from TV, Parks returned for Peacock’s Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip Ex-Wives Club in 2022 and appeared on season 2 of Peacock’s The Traitors earlier this year. She made her Bravo return on Married to Medicine for season 10 in 2023.
Season 16 of RHOA is also expected to star Williams, Drew Sidora, Shamea Morton Mwangi, Kelli Ferrell, Eady, Angela Oakley and former star Cynthia Bailey back as a “friend.”
