It’s never all diamonds and rosé in the world of Real Housewives. Being followed around by a camera and having all of your dirty laundry aired isn’t fun, but sometimes fame comes with a price.
For the most part, we’re meant to enjoy their lavish lifestyles and bottomless champagne flutes. To gush over their high-end brand names and expensive automobiles. But there’s a dark side to the Real Housewives. Sometimes the fights get dirty and the blows go low. We’ve seen cast members align themselves against a particular co-star. Perhaps a salacious scandal is too much to handle and someone quits under a veil of darkness at night.
Whatever the reason, occasionally things become too overwhelming to continue filming and they decide to leave production. It’s rare, but it does happen. Let’s take a look at some Real Housewives who quit their show in the middle of a season or right after filming.
Real Housewives Of Atlanta / Tanya Sam
Mama Joyce’s streets were on fire back in 2020. So were the Real Housewives of Atlanta. Cynthia Bailey was headed to the altar and had herself one hell of a bachelorette party. Ladies and gentlemen, we had ourselves a #Strippergate. Oh, the time we had deciding who or what went down with Bolo the male dancer holding a special party trick.
Tanya Sam was appearing in a “friend of” role but she was heavily featured and hung out with the cast a lot – until she didn’t. There was so much rumor and speculation about what happened with Bolo and his… special friend. Also, Kenya Moore wasn’t fond of Tanya. She may or may not have stirred the pot when she brought in a woman claiming Tanya’s man hit on her at a bar.
Whether it was to avoid disgrace with #strippergate or further interference in her personal relationship, Tanya peaced out. For all we know, Tanya left because she has morals in place that frown upon being associated with a television show of this nature. But she quit in the middle of Season 13 and we haven’t seen much of her since.
Real Housewives Of Salt Lake City / Mary Cosby
Real Housewives of Salt Lake City was a refreshing new addition to the Bravo world. Set amongst the mountains and Mormons of Utah, people all over the world were given an insight into things they had never seen before. While someone like Heather Gay might have been suffering from religious trauma, others speculated co-star Mary Cosby was perpetuating it.
Mary was quirky and definitely had opinions. She never appeared to truly enjoy hanging out with her cast and big events seemed to make her uncomfortable. That said, Mary also had a tendency to make other people uncomfortable. Her way with words wasn’t exactly poetry. Mary definitely made some ugly comments that continued into her second season. After cast members pointed out Mary’s insensitivity towards others, rumors began surfacing about her church.
There were allegations Mary treated her congregation and employees like dirt. The word “cult” was uttered more than once. And Mary’s relationship with her step-grandfather was a neverending source of wonder. As Season 2 ended, Mary wasn’t being portrayed in the greatest light – and she was about to surprise everyone by not showing up to the reunion. Her absence didn’t allow Mary to answer any of the questions people had, or to acknowledge her actions. Usually, people are fired for skipping out on Andy Cohen’s favorite moment, but Mary is coming back to RHOSLC for Season 4.
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Real Housewives of Beverly Hills / Adrienne Maloof
In retrospect, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum Adrienne Maloof kind of got a raw deal. She was the first on a main cast to jump ship and she paid for it with her Bravo salary. Adrienne was an original cast member of RHOBH. She abruptly left the show in Season 3 after a significant family secret was made public. Thanks again, Brandi Glanville!
The nature of the secret was withheld during the season, but it had to do with Adrienne and Paul Nassif’s children. How Brandi came away relatively unscathed from revealing this private information is still one of the great wonders of the world. The fallout managed to make bigger holes in Paul and Adrienne’s already shaky relationship. By the end of filming, the couple decided to separate and Adrienne was a no-show at the reunion taping. At the time, Andy uttered his now famous words, “Adrienne Maloof’s final act as a Housewife was NOT showing up tonight.” We did see Adrienne pop up in later seasons making guest appearances.
Real Housewives Of Atlanta / Kim Zolciak-Biermann
Back to Hotlanta and another disgruntled Housewife. To be fair, when Kim Zolciak decided enough was enough, she was about 57 months pregnant. There really should be some law of nature that forgives any hasty decisions made by women while their bodies are being used as hosts for other human beings.
That said, Kim’s exit was controversial because she basically quit on camera. In Season 5, Cynthia invited the gang to Anguilla to witness her vow renewal with Peter Thomas. Hang on, why does Cynthia and her marriage stuff always lead to someone leaving the show? Anyway, Kim couldn’t travel because she was filled with a baby but everyone had a problem with it. She had words with her co-stars AND production and the spat escalated into a full argument that involved Kroy Biermann.
Kim spent the next 5 years having kids and filming Don’t Be Tardy. She appeared on RHOA in Season 9. Viewers were a bit surprised to see Kim pop up with some other RHOA vets in the Season 15 trailer.
Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills / Lisa Vanderpump
This was the walkout heard around the world. This is when RHOBH began what we now know as… the Dark Times. Lisa Vanderpump was, and probably will remain, the queen of the Beverly Hills franchise.
Season 9 started off relatively normal. But Dorit Kemsley had a “situation” with a dog adopted from Lisa’s canine rescue organization. The pup had previous interactions with PK Kemsley’s nose and apparently nipped at her children. Dorit decided the dog had to go and that’s where things get muddy.
How the dog arrived at a kill shelter is still not confirmed. Also not confirmed is who leaked information regarding Dorit’s former dog to the media. Hashtag puppygate was born and fed through Lisa’s “friends” ganging up on her during a vulnerable time in her life.
Lisa’s brother had just died from a drug overdose and she probably should have taken some time from filming to recover. Being the workhorse she is, or Bravo being demanding, Lisa continued to show up whilst being accused of various crimes against her co-stars.
It all ended one afternoon when Kyle Richards and her hat appeared on Lisa’s doorstep wanting some answers. Kyle tried her hardest to have LVP admit she was a lying liar face and Lisa swore on all her animals and children she was telling the truth.
They went around in circles until Ken Todd magically appeared and told Kyle to get the hell out of his house. Lisa abruptly chose to stop filming at that point and did not show up for the Season 9 reunion. Many longtime viewers feel RHOBH never recovered from losing LVP, but her legacy carries on with Vanderpump Rules, the swan army, and the ever-faithful, dog-carrying Ken.
TELL US- WHICH REAL HOUSEWIFE LEAVING THE FRANCHISE DO YOU MISS THE MOST? WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE RETURN? DO YOU THINK LISA VANDERPUMP WOULD EVER COME BACK TO REAL HOUSEWIVES?
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