During the first season of The Real Housewives of Atlanta on Bravo, folks kept asking me when I was going to write about them. I tried to when i Tivo’d the first episode. But truthfully, I couldn’t get past the opening credits. I know for those of you who tuned in it was like an addictive train wreck. You just couldn’t look away. For me, especially in this economy, it was a symbol of the faux “ghetto fabulous” “bling” society that some black folks aspire to. Well it turns out that all that glitters….Today, over at Jezebel, there’s a breakdown of who’s really got money and who doesn’t (hint:not many). NeNe Leak’s fall from fabulousness was one of the first to be reported. She didn’t own, she rented and was evicted from that house. Her husband Greg (who may not be her husband after all) owes a mint in back taxes. The show also upgraded him from a manager for a rental company to a “real estate investor” because it probably sounded better. But his business was suspect too. The local news did a report on him renting one of those homes to a friend with bad credit.
Sheree Whitfield’s got issues too. Her oldest daughter is often identified as “a friend” in interviews but perhaps there’s a valid reason. (Maybe she’s like Janet Jackson, who has that nonexistent daughter we’ve heard about for years). But since the show was taped Sheree had her share of disappointments. She pulled her younger kids out of private school, put her home on the market, and is bouncing checks.She also didn’t get that big divorce payoff she was expecting either.
And then there’s Lisa Wu-Hartwell, the ex-wife of Keith Sweat. The R&B crooner lent her $150,000 to make a movie and he had to sue her to get it back. So she filed for bankruptcy last year. And remember that Keith wouldn’t let his kids appear on the show? Well, that won’t be a problem now because he now has custody.
I not going to give any space to Kim beyond the fact that her house was is up for sale (after her married sugar daddy was named). That leaves DeShawn Snow, she actually has money. Which begs the question: Why did she need to do the show?
Anyway, it turns out “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” are no different from some of the people we see everyday. They’re all living a life they can’t afford. They were hood rich, not wealthy (but they were the only ones who didn’t know it).
But even with all these revelations, I would bet money that Bravo will bring them back for another season of ridiculousness. EW.com reports that they’ll be back for season 2 (perhaps with some tweaks to the cast). Heaven help us!
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