Originally posted Thursday, March 21, 2019 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
ET reports that Andrea "Drea" Kelly, R. Kelly's ex wife featured in the recent Lifetime docu-series "Surviving R. Kelly," will be on the cast of the upcoming season of WE-TV's "Growing Up Hip Hop Atlanta."
"I don't know what it's like to be R. Kelly's child. I only know what it's like to be his ex-wife," Drea said in a teaser trailer.
The show will return this summer. Bow Wow, an original member of the cast, remains. Others who will appear on the show for the first time: Waka Flocka and Tammy Rivera (formerly of VH1's "Love and Hip Hop Atlanta") and Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins (who did a reality show on TLC network in 2013.)
During the Lifetime series, Drea Kelly accused her ex husband of isolating and physically abusing her. He has denied the charges.
Kelly, a 45-year-old choreographer, dancer and actress, was married to the now disgraced R&B star from 1996 to 2009. They have three kids together.
From 2012 to 2014, Kelly was on the cast of VH1’s “Hollywood Exes.”
A WE-TV spokeswoman said all the aforementioned celebrities in the trailer will be part of the cast but the entire cast hasn’t been publicized yet.
The show just began production of its third season, according to the Georgia film and TV office.
“Growing Up Hip Hop Atlanta” debuted in 2017, then ran what appeared to be two more seasons last year but they were ultimately identified as season 2A and season 2B. Clearly, what networks consider a “season” comes down to contractual issues.
