Shamea Morton Mwangi is back for what is expected to be a “rollercoaster” 17th season of Real Housewives of Atlanta, filled with fun, feuds, and fabulous fashions.
“We have a beautiful cast,” she told MadameNoire Managing Editor Danica Daniel in an exclusive interview. “These women are bosses, and they are talented, and they can read. It’s a lot of fun. There is someone on this cast for everybody out there—absolutely.”
Joining Shamea for some Atlanta hijinx are returning Housewives Porsha Williams, Phaedra Parks, Drew Sidora, Angela Oakley, and Kelli Ferrell, with Slutty Vegan Founder and CEO Pinky Cole and Grammy-nominated singer K. Michelle joining the cast as new Housewifes. Cynthia Bailey returns as a friend.
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“I’m a huge fan of K. Michelle’s music and I’m a huge fan of Pinky Cole’s vegan burgers,” she tells MadameNoire wth a laugh before confessing she is 100% a carnivore. “I’m married to a Kenyan man—ain’t no way I can give up meat!”
For years, Shamea often played the background on “RHOA,” considered only as Porsha’s sidekick but after finally earning her peach last season the 43-year-old is ready to make her mark.
“I’m super excited about my sophomore season,” Shamea stated with a wink, reminding those watching that she is bringing only main character energy this time around. “I got out the kinks out, and now I am unapologetically me.”
That unwillingness to back down from Shamea and the rest of the co-stars is what makes this season of RHOA more fiery than ever before.
“It’s like a roller coaster of emotions,” Shamea explains of one of Atlanta’s most volatile social circles. “Just when you think you get bad, it’s like, ‘oh damn, no, this happened.’ There’s a bunch of moments where I was like, ‘OMG… did I just say that?’ Every Sunday you are going to be like ‘wait, what’.”
And yes, fans will see movement in her complicated friendship with Porsha Williams. While she’s keeping things classy, she makes it clear there’s growth. “I appreciate the fact that we can coexist… and really enjoy the rest of the cast,” she says. “I found some really great women. I really do appreciate the fact that we can put whatever differences aside and enjoy the group.”
But beyond the drama, Shamea is using her platform to bring awareness to an issue deeply personal: her fertility journey and the realities of Black maternal health.
“For a long time I felt less than and embarrassed… like, ‘man, something wrong with me?’” she says candidly. “I’ve done so many rounds of IVF… and I had to learn to give myself grace.”
Opening up about her struggles last season truly helped the mother of two (she has two daughters with her husband, Gerald Mwangi: Shya Mwangi and Shiloh Mwangi) find peace.
“The more I talked about it, the more DMs I got from women going through the same thing,” she said. “We don’t talk enough about it in our community.”
She’s also challenging the rigid expectations placed on Black women. “You’re always told, ‘don’t get pregnant till you get married, have a career, do all these things’—but nobody tells you about your timeline,” she says. “You don’t have to have a family the conventional way… adoption, surrogacy—there’s so many ways.”
Check out the full interview with Shamea Morton and Danica Daniel above where Shamea teases which lady she’d love to see lose her peach.
“The Real Housewives of Atlanta” airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo. Episodes will be available to stream next day on Peacock.
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