The Real Housewives of Atlanta

**The Real Housewives of Atlanta** (abbreviated **RHOA**) is an American reality television series that premiered on October 7, 2008 on Bravo. It is the third installment of The Real Housewives franchise and focuses on the personal and professional lives of several women residing in Atlanta, Georgia.

## Overview

### Season 1-4

The series was announced as the third installment in The Real Housewives franchise, intending to capitalise on the success of its predecessors. The first season premiered on October 7, 2008, and starred Lisa Wu, DeShawn Snow, NeNe Leakes, Kim Zolciak and Shereé Whitfield. Snow departed from the show after the first season, and alleged that producers considered her to be "too human for a circus show".

The second season premiered on July 30, 2009 and Kandi Burruss joined the show.

The third season premiered on October 4, 2010 and saw the departure of Wu and the addition of Cynthia Bailey and Phaedra Parks.

The fourth season which premiered on November 6, 2011 had Whitfield exit the series upon the conclusion of the fourth season.

### Season 5-8

The fifth season premiered on November 4, 2012 and Kenya Moore and Porsha Williams joined the show.

The sixth season premiered on November 3, 2013, and featured the same cast from the last season except for Zolciak who departed from the show in the middle of season five.

The seventh season which premiered on November 9, 2014, saw Williams demoted as a friend of the housewives, alongside Demetria McKinney, while Claudia Jordan was introduced as a main housewife. Leakes decided to leave the show after seven seasons while Jordan was fired from the show after one season.

The eighth season premiered on November 8, 2015, which featured Williams returning as a full-time housewife and Kim Fields joining as the latest housewife. Whitfield returned as a friend of the housewives alongside Shamea Morton. Leakes, Jordan and McKinney appeared as guests. Fields did not return for a second season.

### Season 9-12

The ninth season premiered on November 6, 2016, with Whitfield returning in a full-time capacity. Morton made numerous guest appearances while original housewives Wu and Zolciak-Biermann appeared in the season finale. Parks was fired from the show after the season ended.

The tenth season which premiered on November 5, 2017 saw Leakes return as a full-time cast member. Zolciak-Biermann returned as a friend of the housewives, alongside Eva Marcille and Marlo Hampton. Morton and Wu appeared throughout the season as well. Whitfield and Moore left the show after the tenth season.

The eleventh season premiered on November 4, 2018. Marcille and Shamari DeVoe became full-time cast members. The season also featured Hampton and Tanya Sam as friends of the housewives, while Moore and Morton appeared as guests. DeVoe did not return after the season ended.

The twelfth season premiered on November 3, 2019, with Moore returning full-time, and Hampton and Sam returning in recurring capacities. Morton appeared as a guest. Marcille and Leakes announced their departure from the show in June 2020 and September 2020 respectively.

### Season 13-present

The thirteenth season premiered on December 6, 2020, with Drew Sidora as the newest cast member. While LaToya Ali joined as friend of the housewives alongside Hampton, Sam and Morton returning as a guest.

## Timeline of Cast Members

### Main Cast

* Kandi Burruss (Season 2-13)
* Cynthia Bailey (Season 3-13)
* NeNe Leakes (Seaso 1-7 and 10-12; guest in Season 8)
* Kenya Moore (Season 5-10 and 12-13; guest in Season 11)
* Phaedra Parks (Season 3-9)
* Porsha Williams (Season 5-6 and 8-13; friend in Season 7)
* Shereé Whitfield (Season 1-4 and 9-10; friend in Season 8)
* Kim Zolciak-Biermann (Season 1-5; friend in Season 10 and guest in Season 9)
* Lisa Wu (Season 1-2; friend in Season 8 and guest in Season 3 and 9-10)
* Eva Marcille (Season 11-12; friend in Season 10)
* DeShawn Snow (Season 1)
* Claudia Jordan (Season 7; guest in Season 8)
* Kim Fields (Season 8)
* Shamari DeVoe (Season 11)
* Drew Sidora (Season 13)

### Friends of the Housewives

* Marlo Hampton (Friend in Season 4 and 10-13; guest in Season 6 and 8-9)
* Shamea Morton (Guest in Season 5-6 and 9-13; friend in Season 8)
* Demetria McKinney (Friend in Season 7 and guest in Season 8)
* Tanya Sam (Friend in Season 11-13)
* LaToya Ali (Friend in Season 13)