Restaurateur Peter Thomas, the former husband of “Real Housewives of Atlanta” regular Cynthia Bailey, has been fighting off COVID-19 the past week, he announced from his bed on Instagram.
He said he thinks he contracted it while taking selfies.
“People come up to me, take pictures all the time,” said Thomas, who is 58 years old, and currently owns a bar in South Beach. “And they want me to have the mask off and hug me because they say they like me... Every time I take those pictures, I’m praying I’m not going to get it. These things caught up to me.”
He said he had taken the test five times before and came up negative but tested positive the sixth time.
Thomas is currently in Miami, where he opened a Bar One lounge last year. He used to have a bar by the same name in Atlanta from 2011 to 2014 in Grant Park.
On his Instagram video, he said he’s been in bed for eight consecutive days and thinks he expects to stay there for another week to recuperate.
“It’s the most excruciating pain I can think of,” he said. “My stomach has been a complete wreck the last eight days. Pain. Constant cramping. The pain is crazy. Chills. All day. All night. Chills. Waking up in a cold sweat, constantly keeping my body hydrated, no appetite, diarrhea, throwing up.”
He said he has to test negative twice before he even considers going outside.
Thomas, who asked folks to wear masks and social distance, said he is glad he is alive and doesn’t need hospitalization but “I can’t wait for this [expletive] to be over.”
Thomas who has been running bars, restaurants, clubs and lounges for 35 years, used to live in Atlanta while married to Bailey from 2010 to 2017. Their wedding was captured by “Real Housewives” cameras on Bravo along with many of their ups and downs as a married couple. He ran Grant Park’s Bar One Tapas Lounge for three years until 2014. His effort to open another one in the Old Fourth Ward fell through.
He ultimately moved to Charlotte, North Carolina to run a sports bar called Sports One Bar & Lounge, which is still open.
Last year, Thomas was arrested at Miami International Airport on a fugitive warrant for writing fraudulent checks and spent six days in jail.
Last month, previous “Real Housewives of Atlanta” cast member Sheree Whitfield said she got COVID-19.
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