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Marlo Hampton announces that she will NOT return for season 16 of RHOA. Plus, find out who else is rumored to be on the chopping block.
Bravo continues to slowly but surely map out their casting shakeup for season 16 of RHOA.
On Friday, Marlo Hampton announced that she would not return for the sixteenth season of the Atlanta Housewives franchise.
The longtime RHOA staple announced her departure in a statement to PEOPLE:
“My contract with Real Housewives of Atlanta ended when season 15 wrapped. This break from RHOA is a fresh start, allowing me the space to participate in new creative entertainment projects focused on my future and not reliving my past.”
She added: “My nephews are transitioning into pivotal stages of their academic adolescence, and I am focused on my representation in their eyes and getting back to showing my multifaceted lifestyle of philanthropy, fashion, and fabulosity! I am thankful for this amazing platform of Housewives, which has allowed me to bring awareness to foster care, my non-profit Glam It Up, Inc., and showcase my fashion showroom, Le’Archive.”
“I look forward to my continued relationship with Bravo and NBC Universal,” the RHOA star concluded.
Marlo Hampton first appeared on RHOA in season 4 as a friend of OG NeNe Leakes. She then returned for seasons 6, 8, and 9 as a guest before becoming an official friend of for seasons 10, 11, 12, and 13.
Over the years, Marlo became a fan favorite, and by season 14 of RHOA, they demanded that Bravo finally give her a peach, which the network did for seasons 14 and 15.
Meanwhile, The Neighborhood Talk reports that Sanya Richards-Ross also won’t return for season 16 of RHOA.
This all comes amid Porsha Williams return to the Atlanta Housewives franchise. On February 13, the 42-year-old announced that she was reclaiming her peach.
“Who said that Porsha Williams [is] coming back to ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’? That’s false,” the Bravoleb said in a cheeky social media video.
“But Porsha Guobadia?” she continued, referencing her new married name, “is in the building! See ya!”
The Atlanta Housewives franchise has been on hiatus since concluding its 15th season in September 2023.
For months rumors have been swirling about Bravo’s plans to reboot the franchise à la the Real Housewives of New York. But it seems instead of giving RHOA a complete overhaul, Bravo is simply revamping the series.
Part of that revamp includes the exit of Kandi Burruss, who has starred on RHOA for 14 consecutive seasons. Kandi announced her exit on February 4 at the 2024 Grammys.
“I decided I’m not coming back this year,” she told Variety. “It’s been 14 seasons, and they allowed us to sit around for a little too long, but during that time, I had started working on a lot of other things, and I got some nice big projects coming soon, so I’m super excited about those things.”
Season 15 of RHOA starred Kandi Burruss, Kenya Moore, Shereé Whitfield, Drew Sidora, Sanya Richards-Ross, and Marlo Hampton.
Bravo honcho Andy Cohen recently teased Bravo’s plans for the Atlanta Housewives franchise amid their “pause.”
“I’m not announcing anything, but we are on it and the casting is superb and it’s funny because I saw casting last week and last week I was thinking, ‘Okay, this is gonna be great. We have a sense,’” Andy explained on the February 6 episode of SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live
He continued, “And by the way, now that we know Kandi is leaving, that also allows us to put other puzzle pieces together and figure out, ‘Okay, well, you know, where do we go here?’ and she’s a big loss, but I think, you know, it allows us to figure out the future and I guess this is me just saying I’m very excited about the casting that we have. Very.”
The Real Housewives of Atlanta is expected to return for season 16 in 2024.
