Entertainment

Even A 'Real Housewives' Group Trip Couldn't Save Kandi & Porsha's Friendship

by Alexis Reliford
Bravo

Ever since last season, things have been on shaky ground between Kandi Burruss and Porsha Williams on The Real Housewives of Atlanta — and based on what's been happening thus far in Season 10, they won't be friends again anytime soon. The Georgia peaches' friendship came to a screeching halt after Porsha brought up some rumors she had heard about Kandi that were revealed and subsequently proven to be false during the Season 9 reunion.

From that point on, Porsha has been working overtime to prove to Kandi and the rest of the Housewives that she can be trusted, despite what her previous actions have shown. And although Kandi has been cordial so far in Season 10, she and Porsha are nowhere near as close as they used to be. This leaves fans wondering if they'll ever be able to put last season's shenanigans behind them. The answer, according to Kandi, is no... or at least not anytime soon.

In the fourth and final part of RHOA’s season 9 reunion, former housewife Phaedra Parks admitted to telling Porsha that Kandi and her husband Todd planned on drugging Porsha and taking her home — even though it wasn’t true. This incident caused Kandi to reconsider her place on the show.

“During Season 9, I was feeling like I might want to leave because there was so much hate from fans online and I was having trouble because, how do you defend yourself from a lie?” Kandi said in an interview with Us Weekly. “How do you defend yourself from something that never happened?”

On the current season, in an episode titled "All Aboard The Shady Express," the ladies made their way to San Francisco for a girl's trip complete with wine tastings, boat rides and of plenty of shady side-eyes. At a group dinner Nene took the liberty of voicing her distaste for Porsha's constant need to talk badly about the rest of the ladies, particularly Kandi. Nene felt like Porsha deserved to be "punished" for what she did to Kandi, and the silence from the rest of the table indicated that Nene wasn't the only one who felt that way.

Following the confrontation Kandi, Nene, Marlo, and Cynthia all exited the table leaving Porsha completely in tears with Sheree. Porsha didn't understand, first, why everyone felt the need to gang up on her, and two, why Kandi can't at least begin to forgive her after so many apologies. Some fans share that exact sentiment and took to Kandi's social media accounts to ask when she plans to move on from drama with Porsha. But in a, now deleted, lengthy post on Instagram, Kandi explained why when it comes to Porsha, she can't just forgive and forget.

"I normally don’t post people’s comments but @grammarci really explained how I feel. For those who watch #RHOA & say I should just get over the false accusations that Porsha said about me last year need to leave me alone," Kandi wrote in the post according to an article on Bravo.com. "You can’t just falsely accuse someone of trying to drug you & take advantage of you on camera with the intent of defaming them & think it’s just gonna be ok a month later. I’m still dealing with trolls who have taken what she said & run with it even though the truth came out that it was a lie."

Later in the episode, Porsha pulled Kandi to the side to once again clear the air, and her apology fell on deaf ears. Kandi reiterated that she just needs some time to process everything. And given how damaging those rumors from Season 9 could have been to Kandi's reputation and career, it's no surprise that she's not letting Porsha off the hook that easy.

Although, a bit of hope for the future comes towards the end of the trip when the group heads out to a vineyard. On the train ride there, Kandi and Porsha were seated across from each other and shared a few surface-level jokes and laughs. Kandi remarked off-camera that she was only being friendly because they were stuck on the train together for the next hour. But their banter proved that progress is being made — and that's good enough for now.