Is Phaedra Parks to Blame for Porsha Williams' Drug Claims Against Kandi Burruss?
Much of Sunday’s Real Housewives of Atlanta reunion part three centered around the tight friendship between Porsha Williams and Phaedra Parks - which both women stood by even after many in the cast claimed the two were in an alliance for the Bravo cameras.
But by episode’s end, it appeared a fracture had appeared in their bond when Williams threw Parks under the metaphorical bus of sorts - claiming Parks had been the one who told her that Kandi Burruss and husband Todd Tucker had planned on drugging Wiliams and their mutual friend Shamea Morton one night in order to take advantage of them sexually.
Both Burruss and Morton have denied Williams’ accusation the past. But Williams’ explosive revelation on Sunday ended the evening in total outrage. And a preview for the reunion’s conclusion next week shows that it’s just the beginning of what appears to be all-out war between the women.
But before one can take that all in, one must look back at how the Atlanta Housewives got here in the first place.
It all started when Burruss made the claim that Parks had been unfaithful to her estranged husband Apollo Nida, dating other men before Nida went to jail. That allegation was co-signed by Morton, who said that Parks had tried to get with her ex-husband when they were married.
Hearing the gossip, Parks retaliated - gesturing that Morton was sexually involved with both Burruss and Tucker. Williams appeared to agree, telling friend Shereé Whitfield “she’s close to both of them.”
Looking back at that scene, Williams realized that what she had said had put a fracture in her long friendship with Morton. “I haven’t spoken to Shamea ever since that scene aired,” she revealed at the reunion.
“I want to publicly apologize for whatever I did, whatever I said, however you felt,” she told Morton. “I love you... When it came to Phaedra and what she was saying, I was caught up in the tea and what was going on. I was wrong.”
RELATED VIDEO: RHOA Star Porsha Williams Gives Her Side of the Story Regarding the Kandi vs. Phaedra Feud!
Though Morton accepted her apology, it was Burruss who was really mad - especially when it came to the lesbian rumors spread about her later towards the end of the season.
She was particularly surprised to hear the gossip had started with Williams. According to Burruss, the two had allegedly shared a late-night dance-floor make out session with that was so hot, it prompted Williams to ask if the two could have sex.
“[I’d] already told these girls that [I’d] had a girl experience before,” Burruss said, explaining she had hooked up with a girl more than one time (To be specific, “not many girls - definitely under 10”).
“That has never been a secret,” she continued. “I talked about it in the past when we was on the beach in Miami. And when they said that Porsha said it, it really pissed me off. Because I don’t like it anymore than [she] did!”
REAL HOUSEWIVES REWIND: A Porsha Williams and Kandi Burruss Duet
Williams maintained that she had never spread any lies about Burruss, and had only thrown shade when she implied Burruss was closeted earlier in the season. “When did I say out my mouth that you was a lesbian?” she asked Burruss. “I did not say those words out my mouth point blank. I said you’re close’ and you are close. I said light shade - Oh, she in the closet or could be or whatever’ - that was shade.”
Parks backed her up, adding that her gesture was never meant to label Burruss a lesbian either.
“In order for her to be a lesbian that would mean she is sleeping only with women, correct? So I never said she was a lesbian. [I said she was sleeping with a woman] - that doesn’t mean you’re a lesbian,” Parks said, explaining she had heard rumors the two were sleeping together “on the streets.”
They weren’t though, Burruss and Morton said. And Williams’ desire to “throw shade” was misguided in Burruss’ eyes.
“At the end of the day, if you’re going to throw shade, don’t throw shade about something you do as well,” Burruss told Williams. “If you want to talk about somebody having experiences with women, talk about your own experiences. You are a hypocrite.”
The extent of Williams’ experiences with other women remained a mystery. When the topic of her make-out session with Burruss first came out in the season, Williams had denied it. On Sunday, she admitted they had kissed - but only because because she was drunk. “Beer goggles, okay?” she told Burruss. “I was not attracted to you, period. That doesn’t mean I’m not attracted to another woman, I’m talking about you.”
She remained firm that there never was a sexual proposition beyond their kiss. “I did not ask you two to go back to my room,” she said. “It was three years ago. I remember kissing [Kandi], but talking about [anything else]? No.”
Tucker - who was there for both the alleged make-out and proposition between Burruss and Williams and for the reunion conversation - offered his memory of the evening.
“There was a kiss. Actually there was more than one kiss,” he said, “Then there was a proposition [by Williams] for us to come back to her hotel with her. My wife was like, No that’s not a good idea. We out of here.’ And that’s all there was. We’re all adults. It’s nothing wrong with any of this.”
So what about the drug accusation? Why did Williams believe Burruss and Tucker would try to drug her to take advantage of her?
Asked that question from Cohen, Williams pulled a card out of his Watch What Happens Live deck and pled the fifth. “I was served a cease and desist by Kandi, and I no longer can speak on the subject,” she said - making it clear that as a journalist who works for Dish Nation, she wouldn’t want to be known as a liar.
That’s when Williams accused Parks of being her source. “What I want to do is have Phaedra speak because she’s the one who told me that Kandi said that.”
Parks looked shocked as Burruss screamed, “You said that? That I wanted to drug her?” But we’ll have to wait until next week to find out whether or not Williams is spilling true tea or fake news.
The Real Housewives of Atlanta reunion concludes Sunday (8 p.m. ET) on Bravo.
