Tamar Braxton Turned Down The Real Housewives of Atlanta — Here’s Why

• Tamar Braxton revealed she was asked to participate The Real Housewives of Atlantabut I refused it.
• The singer and reality TV star told podcast host Carlos King, “At some point you have to take responsibility for what you put on the TV screen.”
• His comments come as Bravo is in production on season 16, which will feature a major casting shakeup due to declining ratings.

Don’t expect to see Tamar Braxton on The Real Housewives of Atlanta anytime soon.

During a live interview with podcast host Carlos King last month at City Winery in Atlanta, the Grammy-nominated singer revealed that she was approached to join the long-running Bravo series, but she had refused.

“I’ve had conversations, but the truth is, there’s no way I’m going to sit down and put on a wig and get my face beat in for chatting with a bunch of bitches for nothing,” Braxton told the audience of the show. , which was uploaded to Reality with the king“I can’t do it. What does this mean for my life? What’s the argument?”

“Let me tell you something: Not all money is good money. It just isn’t,” she continued. “Here’s what I say: I won’t miss what’s for me. It’s not worth sitting here and arguing with another beautiful black woman over nothing so that ‘other people’ can think that That’s what we’re about.”

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Braxton – who has appeared on reality TV several times, including Braxton Family Values And Celebrity Big Brotherwhich she won – went on to say that she chooses her projects carefully.

“At some point you have to take responsibility for what you put on the TV screen,” she said. “I don’t want to, I want to be a part of this television. I want it to be feel good, funny, good, relatable. epic television.”

PEOPLE reached out to Bravo, which has no comment on casting.

RHOA has long been Bravo’s highest-rated Housewives franchise in the years since its premiere in 2008. But once a ratings juggernaut for the channel, the series’ popularity has declined in recent seasons, due to dynamic contradictory casting.

After season 15 concluded in September 2023, production on the series took a hiatus while the series was remade. Cameras returned earlier this month, led by Kenya Moore, the franchise’s longest-running Housewife, and Porsha Williams, who returns to the series after a two-season absence (and in the midst of a divorce complicated with her ex-husband Simon Guobadia).

Joining them will be returnee Drew Sidora and a host of new Housewives, including author, businesswoman and podcast host Brittany Eady; Kelli Ferrell, restaurateur and Food Network alumna; and Angela Oakley, wife of NBA great Charles Oakley.

Shamea Morton Mwangi, who appeared on the series in a guest and friend role dating back to season 5, has been transformed into a full-time housewife. And model Cynthia Bailey – a housewife from season 3-13 and part of the original cast of Ultimate Real Housewives Girls Trip — will also be back, as a friend.

Exit RHOA will be Shereé Whitfield, Marlo Hampton and Sanya Richards-Ross. All three joined as full-time housewives in season 14, although Hampton has been a friend/recurring guest for years while Whitfield was a founding cast member of RHOA when it premiered in 2008 and has appeared as Housewife for several seasons since.

Kandi Burruss will not return either and is leaving RHOA after 14 consecutive years on the show.

“I took a hiatus,” she told PEOPLE exclusively at the 2024 People’s Choice Awards, hinting that she hopes to one day return to the show. “They didn’t have to pause me, I paused myself.”

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“I just started working on other things and I was excited about the other things I was working on,” she added. “I loved the fact that I was making deals and doing all that without all that stress. I figured if there was ever a time to go out and try other things, it’s now, because I was already doing a lot of things doing this show, but there’s only so much you can do while you’re filming the show. This time I said, “I’m going to go through with it.”

Season 16 of RHOA is expected to premiere in 2025. Previous seasons can be streamed on Peacock.