The Real Housewives of Atlanta, abbreviated RHOA, is an American reality television series that premiered on Bravo on October 7, 2008. Developed as the third installment of The Real Housewives franchise, it has aired seventeen seasons and focuses on the personal and professional lives of several women residing in and around Atlanta, Georgia.
The cast of the current seventeenth season consists of Phaedra Parks, Porsha Williams, Drew Sidora, Shamea Morton, Angela Oakley, Kelli Potter, Pinky Cole, and K. Michelle, with former housewife Cynthia Bailey serving as a "friend of the housewives.” Previously featured cast members include original housewives NeNe Leakes, DeShawn Snow, Shereé Whitfield, Lisa Wu, and Kim Zolciak-Biermann. Subsequent housewives include Kandi Burruss, Kenya Moore, Claudia Jordan, Kim Fields, Shamari DeVoe, Eva Marcille, Marlo Hampton, Sanya Richards-Ross, and Brit Eady.
The Real Housewives of Atlanta has received moderately favorable reviews from critics and has been recognized as a "guilty pleasure" by several media outlets. However, the series has been criticized for appearing to fabricate portions of its storyline. It has anchored Bravo's Sunday night offerings since the show's third season in 2010, eventually becoming Bravo's highest-rated program by 2014.
The success of the show has resulted in ten spin-offs: Don't Be Tardy, The Kandi Factory, I Dream of NeNe: The Wedding, Kandi's Wedding, Kandi's Ski Trip, Xscape: Still Kickin' It, SWV & Xscape: The Queens of R&B, Kandi Koated Nights, Porsha's Having a Baby, Porsha's Family Matters and Kandi & The Gang.
Production Seasons 1–4 The Real Housewives of Atlanta was announced as the third installment in The Real Housewives franchise, intending to capitalize on the successes of its predecessors The Real Housewives of Orange County and New York City. Throughout its run, the show has been led by five to eight housewives, who are credited by their first name. The first season premiered on October 7, 2008, starred Nene Leakes, DeShawn Snow, Sheree Whitfield, Lisa Wu and Kim Zolciak .
Kandi Burruss joined the show in the second season, which premiered on July 30, 2009. Snow did not return. The producer informed Snow that during the reunion, they had expected a stronger reaction from her upon learning what some of the other cast members had said. However, Snow stated that she preferred not to engage in dramatic behavior for television. Premiering on October 4, 2010, the third season saw Wu depart as a Housewife, appearing as a guest, as well as the addition of Cynthia Bailey and Phaedra Parks. The fourth season which premiered on November 6, 2011, saw no changes to the main cast, besides introducing Marlo Hampton as the first official "Friend of the Housewives".
Seasons 5–11 Whitfield did not return for the fifth season, while Kenya Moore and Porsha Williams joined the show as series regulars. It premiered on November 4, 2012. Zolciak quit the show halfway through filming. The sixth season premiered on November 3, 2013. Zolciak exited the cast ahead of the season's premiere Hampton made a guest appearance. After a physical altercation between cast members Moore and Williams at the sixth season's reunion, the seventh season, which premiered on November 9, 2014, saw Williams demoted to a recurring "friend" role, alongside newcomer Demetria McKinney, and Claudia Jordan, who joined as a main housewife.
The eighth season premiered on November 8, 2015. Season eight saw the full-time return of Williams, Burruss, Moore, Parks, and Bailey. Leakes, Jordan, and McKinney exited the series. The season also saw the introduction to actress Kim Fields, who joined in a main capacity. Whitfield also returned as a "friend" alongside newcomer Shamea Morton. Leakes, Jordan, Hampton and McKinney made guest appearances throughout the season. The ninth season premiered on November 6, 2016, with Whitfield returning in a full-time capacity. Fields did not return. Hampton made numerous guest appearances along with Morton, while original housewives Wu and Zolciak appeared in the season finale.
Leakes returned as a full-time cast member for the tenth season, which premiered on November 5, 2017. Zolciak and Hampton returned as a friend of the housewives, alongside Eva Marcille. Morton and Wu appeared throughout the season as well. Whitfield, for the second time, and Moore left the show after the tenth season. Marcille was promoted to a full-time capacity, alongside the addition of Shamari DeVoe for the eleventh season, which premiered on November 4, 2018. The season also introduced Tanya Sam as a new friend of the housewives, alongside Hampton. Moore appeared as a guest alongside Morton.
Seasons 12–15 The twelfth season premiered on November 3, 2019, with Moore returning full-time, and Hampton and Sam returning in recurring capacities. DeVoe did not return. Morton appeared as a guest. Marcille and Leakes announced their departure from the show in June 2020 and September 2020 respectively. The thirteenth season premiered on December 6, 2020, with Drew Sidora joining as the newest Housewife. LaToya Ali joined as "friend of the housewives" alongside Hampton and Sam. Marcille returned as a guest alongside Morton as well as former housewives, Whitfield and Jordan. Bailey and Williams departed the series in September 2021.
The fourteenth season premiered on May 1, 2022. Burruss, Moore and Sidora returned, along with Hampton being promoted to a full-time cast member, after seasons in recurring and guest capacities. Whitfield also returned as a full-time cast member for a third time, along with the additions of Sanya Richards-Ross as a housewife, and Monyetta Shaw-Carter being introduced as a "friend of the housewives". Original housewives, Snow and Wu returned as guests. The fifteenth season premiered on May 7, 2023. Whitfield, Burruss, Moore, Sidora, Hampton and Richards-Ross returned to the series. Shaw-Carter returned as a friend of the housewives, along with Courtney Rhodes. Morton and Ali appeared as guests, alongside former housewives Snow, Wu, Zolciak-Biermann and Bailey.
Season 16 to present In February 2024, it was announced the show would be returning for a sixteenth season when Burruss announced she had decided to depart the series. Burruss became the first housewife across the entire franchise to appear on fourteen seasons. Following Burruss' departure, Marlo Hampton and Sanya Richards-Ross both confirmed their departures from the show. Following the cast exits, Porsha Williams and Moore announced their returns to the series via Instagram videos.
In May 2024, the cast for the sixteenth season was revealed with Williams, Moore and Sidora all returning, along with Morton being promoted to a full-time cast member, after appearing in recurring and guest capacities, former housewife Bailey returning as a "friend of the housewives", and newcomers Angela Oakley, Brit Eady and Kelli Ferrell joining the cast. Whitfield departed the show for the third time. On June 14, 2024, it was revealed that Moore would immediately cease filming Season 16 indefinitely, due to allegations of an incident in which she knowingly distributed sexually explicit material depicting fellow cast member Brit Eady. On July 29, 2024, it was announced that Phaedra Parks would be returning to The Real Housewives of Atlanta, after a six-season hiatus as a full-time cast member for the sixteenth season.
The sixteenth season premiered on March 9, 2025. Williams, Parks, Sidora, Eady, Ferrell, Morton and Oakley were confirmed as full-time cast members, with Bailey in the previously announced "friend of the housewives" role. Moore was demoted to a guest capacity following her issues during filming with Eady. Former cast members DeVoe and Shaw-Carter appeared as guests. In July 2025, Eady announced her departure from the series after one season. On February 24, 2026, it was announced that the seventeenth season would premiere on April 5 of the same year. All cast members returned, except for Eady, while Pinky Cole and singer K. Michelle joined the series as new housewives. Jordan appeared as a guest.
Cast Timeline of cast members
+ Main cast members Seasons 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 NeNe Leakes colspan="7" colspan="1" colspan="1" colspan="3" colspan="5" DeShawn Snow colspan="1" colspan="12" colspan="2" colspan="2" Shereé Whitfield colspan="4" colspan="3" colspan="1" colspan="2" colspan="2" colspan="1" colspan="2" colspan="2" Lisa Wu colspan="2" colspan="1" colspan="5" colspan="2" colspan="3" colspan="2" colspan="2" Kim Zolciak colspan="5" colspan="3" colspan="1" colspan="1" colspan="4" colspan="1" colspan="2" Kandi Burruss colspan="1" colspan="14" colspan="2" Cynthia Bailey colspan="2" colspan="11" colspan="1" colspan="1" colspan="2" Phaedra Parks colspan="2" colspan="7" colspan="6" colspan="2" Kenya Moore colspan="4" colspan="6" colspan="1" colspan="4" colspan="1" colspan="1" Porsha Williams Colspan="4" colspan="2" colspan="1" colspan="6" colspan="2" colspan="2" Claudia Jordan colspan="6" colspan="1" colspan="1" colspan="4" colspan="1" colspan="3" colspan="1" Kim Fields colspan="7" colspan="1" colspan="9" Shamari DeVoe colspan="10" colspan="1" colspan="4" colspan="1" colspan="1" Eva Marcille colspan="9" colspan="1" colspan="2" colspan="1" colspan="4" Drew Sidora colspan="12" colspan="5" Marlo Hampton colspan="3" colspan="1" colspan="1" colspan="1" colspan="1" colspan="2" colspan="4" colspan="2" colspan="2" Sanya Richards-Ross colspan="13" colspan="2" colspan="2" Brit Eady colspan="15" colspan="1" colspan="1" Shamea Morton Mwangi colspan="4" colspan="3" colspan="1" colspan="5" colspan="1" colspan="1" colspan="2" Angela Oakley colspan="15" colspan="2" Kelli Potter colspan="15" colspan="2" Pinky Cole colspan="16" colspan="1" K. Michelle colspan="16" colspan="1" Friends of the housewives Demetria McKinney colspan="6" colspan="1" colspan="1" colspan="9" Tanya Sam colspan="10" colspan="3" colspan="4" LaToya Ali colspan="12" colspan="1" colspan="1" colspan="1" colspan="2" Monyetta Shaw-Carter colspan="13" colspan="2" colspan="1" colspan="1" Courtney Rhodes colspan="14" colspan="1" colspan="2"
Episodes
Storylines In its series premiere, The Real Housewives of Atlanta introduced Wu-Hartwell, Snow, Leakes, Zolciak and Whitfield. Leakes and Whitfield were in the midst of a personal conflict, which escalated after Leakes was excluded from Whitfield's birthday party. Meanwhile, Zolciak was revealed to be dating a publicly unknown boyfriend nicknamed "Big Papa", and later decided to pursue her aspirations of becoming a country music singer. Her friendship with Leakes deteriorated after she established a companionship with Whitfield, and was ended after Leakes made sarcastic remarks about Zolciak's music career. Snow and Wu-Hartwell additionally looked to establish prominence as a socialite and a jewelry designer, respectively. Whitfield attempted to launch her own fashion line and organize a lunch for the women to reconcile, although both ventures proved unsuccessful in the finale of the first season.
The second season saw the exit of Snow and the introduction of Burruss, who had recently become engaged to her boyfriend A.J. and expressed interest in reviving her music career. An attempted reconciliation between Leakes, Whitfield, and Zolciak failed to come to fruition, with Whitfield notably tugging on Zolciak's wig to "shift it a little bit". Meanwhile, a feud developed between Leakes and Burruss after the latter became friends with Zolciak and helped her record her single "Tardy for the Party". Meanwhile, Zolciak attempted to launch her own wig line and became engaged to Big Poppa, while Wu-Hartwell and Whitfield launched their own clothing collections.