Cynthia on Her Friendship with Kenya

Welcome back to Season 7 of The Real Housewives of Atlanta!

Through God's merciful grace I am humbled, blessed, and highly favored. I am happy, healthy, and living life to the fullest. Thank you to all of my fans, friends, and family for your continued love and support. You guys have no idea how much I appreciate your loyalty and encouragement.

WHAT HAVE I BEEN UP TO SINCE LAST SEASON?

I have been busy with my staff running my school, The Bailey Agency School of Fashion. It's been open for four years now and is doing extremely well. I am so proud to have created a platform that is motivational, educational, and inspirational for empowering our youth. As you saw on Episode 1, I was preparing my 2013 Cynthia Bailey Model Search winner Chelsea Lee for New York Fashion Week. She is beautiful, smart, determined, and has a lot of potential. As her mother agent and mentor, I support all her efforts.

I am also extremely proud of my 2012 model search winner Nisaa Pouncy, who is signed with Request Models in New York City. She has walked in New York Fashion Week for the past two years, graced the cover of Jones Magazine, and recently booked Teen Vogue in Paris. Her career is really taking off! It is an amazing feeling to give back by helping kids realize their dreams.

On a more personal note, in between working I have been spending as much time with my family as possible. Peter and I have been married for four years now. Although we went through some transitional issues with Bar One and Industry Studios, as husband and wife we are in a great place. Bar One Atlanta is moving to a new (bigger and better) location on historical Auburn Avenue, The Bailey Agency is back in my original location (which I still had when we moved to Industry Studios), and Sports One Charlotte has been successfully open for about five months.

We are in the process of launching our Peter's Brew coffee line and opening our Peter's Brew coffee shop.

My daughter Noelle recently celebrated her 15th birthday, and is in the 10th grade. Raising a teenager certainly comes with a plethora of challenges; however my main focus with my daughter is to teach her the importance of God, education, love, hard work, and self-respect. She is smart, kind, and beautiful inside and out. She is and will always be my proudest accomplishment. As for me, I am always working on myself! I feel like I am going through a rebirth. I am prioritizing everything and everyone in my life that is important to me. After battling my health issue with fibroids, I made the choice to try to eliminate as much stress from my life as possible. I put my mental and physical health first. I now truly understand the balance of work, love, health, happiness, and family. I am a work in progress!

DID I BECOME CLOSER TO KENYA AFTER LAST YEAR'S REUNION?

When for the first time ever in the history of our show the reunion turned physically violent, I was embarrassed and mortified. Watching a grown woman be pulled from her seat by her hair by another grown woman and dragged across the floor was a wakeup call. This was way more than what I signed up for. So imagine my surprise when all my cast mates ran to the aid of the person who initiated the physical assault. It really disturbed me that no one seemed concerned about Kenya. I felt that the only humane thing to do was to go check on Kenya, since initially no one else did. After leaving Porsha's side, Kandi also stopped by to make sure Kenya was OK. Long story short, this chaotic turn of events was the catalyst that brought me and Kenya together. Let me take you back for a minute. When Kenya first joined the group, we bumped heads at my JET Beauty of the Week casting. Remember Coochie Crack? She came and showed out but eventually apologized to me. A couple of times actually! That was our one and only blow up, and we have been fine ever since. We were never tight, but we never had any more issues. I treated her the same as the other girls, but was only close to NeNe. After my fallout with NeNe, I wasn't interested in being super tight with any of the ladies. I felt it would be better to just "be cool" with everybody going forward, and not have a bestie. Kenya and I did not start our friendship right after the reunion, but we did keep in touch mostly via text. Our friendship has grown organically over time.

DID I REACH OUT TO NENE OR DID NENE REACH OUT TO ME AFTER THE REUNION?

No. The first time we ever talked was during this season.

HOW HAS MY RELATIONSHIP WITH PETER IMPROVED?

The first year of my marriage was my first season on the show. I got married on the show, and I was still learning how to juggle and adjust to being a wife and a reality personality. Five years later, I understand how hard a new marriage can be, especially on a reality show. You have to be rock solid, as people and as a couple, because it will help you survive anything. If your foundation has cracks in it, then your house will eventually fall down.

Sidebar: I don't blame NeNe for any issues that I have in my marriage. I put a lot of my time and energy into that friendship, and now that it is gone, I have more time to put that energy into myself and my family.

WAS I SURPRISED WHEN PETER ASKED ME TO GO INTO BUSINESS WITH HIM?

I have always been supportive of Peter's business ventures. When Peter approached me about being a 50/50 business partner in the new Bar One Atlanta, although I seemed reluctant, I was actually very flattered. Bar One is a proven success, which makes becoming a partner a smart business move. I don't normally like to mix business with pleasure, but in this case, I will make an exception.

DID I REACH OUT TO PHAEDRA WHEN I HEARD THE NEWS ABOUT APOLLO'S SENTENCING?

Of course I did. I sent her a text message saying my prayers were with her and her family, and if she needed me for anything I am there for her. I chose to text Phaedra as opposed to calling her out of respect for her privacy. Phaedra has always shown how important her family is to her over the years, and I pray that it all works out in the end.

[video_clip_url:http://player.theplatform.com/p/PHSl-B/yT7k3t_YLXoZ/embed/select/Z7La40JSzPp5]WAS I SURPRISED BY NENE'S REMARKS TOWARD ME ON WWHL?

Not at all. That's who she is. It's the same ol' two step. Embrace the people that are with you and try to destroy the people who are not. I have seen her do it to other ladies on the show (past and present), so although it was disappointing, it was not a big surprise when she did it to me. It's no secret that NeNe has gotten into it or fallen out (at one time or the other) with mostly all the ladies. My thing is this -- if I'm so irrelevant and you don't want to be my storyline (or should I say me be yours), why spend so much energy talking about me? That energy could have been put to better use looking for a decent wig and a more flattering makeup direction.

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Be sure to tune in to The Real Housewives of Atlanta every Sunday at 8/7c on Bravo.

www.CynthiaBailey.com
www.TheBaileyAgencySchoolofFashion.com
www.barOneATL.com
www.sportsOneCLT.com
www.MissGAUS.com
www.PetersBrew.com 

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