By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Sunday, April 5, 2015
If past patterns persist, "Real Housewives of Atlanta" has two more episodes after tonight's episode, followed by a three-part reunion show.
And not a moment too soon. Because it appears Claudia Jordan's effort to bring "zen" to the group by flying them to the Philippines worked - too well. Everybody is happy together - save for absent NeNe Leakes, who is likely on her way out the door anyway.
She skipped the trip to prep for her Broadway gig "Cinderella" and used her medical issues as an excuse.
This trip was so dripping with warmth and camaraderie, two people you'd never ever expect to get along actually came to an understanding after a long dispute: Kenya Moore and Phaedra Parks.
During season five, Phaedra and newbie Kenya opened the season as friends but when Phaedra saw Kenya flirting with her husband Apollo a bit too much, she grew suspicious . They then worked on a workout video together but they parted over creative differences. Phaedra went off and did her own workout video, which infuriated Phaedra.
Later, Phaedra heard rumors that Kenya actively chased Apollo in Los Angeles and sent him inappropriate texts. From then on, Phaedra kept her distance while badmouthing Kenya every chance she could, especially after Apollo said she had sent him come hither texts. Kenya was especially hurt by Phaedra using the "whore" word constantly.
Only recently did Apollo come clean and say he made the text/LA hotel trip stuff up. Kenya felt vindicated. But Phaedra wasn't fully ready to give Kenya a full apology for all the crap she said about her. So there was a stand-off until the Philippines trip.
Kenya sincerely (for once) asked to meet with Phaedra privately in last week's episode to clean this mess up once and for all.
The meeting finally happened 45 minutes into an episode. Up to that point, the ladies got along swimmingly in the Philippines, whether it was eating foreign foods or horseback riding. NeNe, in New York, had costume fittings for her "Cinderella' role a few weeks later.
Kenya said she would keep her mouth shut and let Phaedra talk, a sign of rapprochement. Phaedra appeared nervous but finally started forming sentences, showing rare vulnerability to one of the "Real Housewives."
"I was in a place of being angry," Phaedra explained. "I was very hurt... When we first met, we we working on a friendship when all this crazy stuff started happening."
Kenya felt like Phaedra shut her down every time she tried to open the door for reconciliation. "When you started calling me a whore, you didn't respect me," Kenya said, tearing up about it for the umpteenth time. "You didn't treat me like a human being."
Phaedra said after praying and hearing what Kenya had to say: "I sincerely apologize."
Kenya repeated that she never saw Apollo in L.A. or propositioned him.
"I want to believe that," Phaedra said. "But as a wife, I had to roll with my husband. We don't go together no more so I don't know what to believe anymore. I can't change that." Then she started crying, something she had never really done before in front of any of the ladies.
"I can't keep sitting around dwelling about what had happened," Phaedra said. "Your slate is clean with me. I'm done with me. It's in my rear view. I will never call you a whore again."
Phaedra said she's in a different space and they should work on mending their friendship. They then pray together.
"For her to get to a place of acceptance and give a verbal apology to my face, I think that's good enough," Kenya said.
Amusingly, while this very serious talk is happening, the other ladies were speculating how things are going by repeating the same argument the two have had many times over the years with Porsha playing Kenya and Kandi doing a perfect vocal imitation of Phaedra.
With the trip over, everyone said they had a good time. That has to be a first on one of these "Real Housewives" trips.
Claudia at the final dinner did bring up NeNe and asked if anyone had talked to her. Porsha did and said she believed that NeNe would have been just as gracious as everybody else. Kenya and the others laughed at this fallacy. "And the Oscar goes to... Porsha!" Kenya said.
Kandi said negativity would have reigned if NeNe had been there.
Althought she was on the trip, Demetria McKinney continued to be a barely-there presence. Porsha, even with the before-season demotion to "recurring" status, still received plenty of airtime.
About the Author
