Phaedra Parks Speaks At Essence Festival — Plays Victim & Blames #RHOA Editing For Creating Rape & Drug Lie! (Video)
Fired Real Housewives of Atlanta star Phaedra Parks resurfaced this weekend at the Essence Festival in New Orleans, Louisiana.
As AllAboutTheTea.com readers know, the shamed attorney made her controversial exit from the Bravo reality series, after it was revealed she concocted the lie that Kandi Burruss and her husband Todd Tucker intended to drug and rape Porsha Williams.
CLICK: ‘Master Manipulator!’ Mama Joyce Drags Fired #RHOA Star Phaedra Parks After Reunion Rape Shocker!
The 43-year-old mother of two spoke at the event’s Empowerment Experience — a session designed to inspire and uplift the community. During her panel, Parks chatted with Essence editor Patrick Henry Bass, and skillfully portrays herself as a black woman, who has been victimized by the power of television editing.
According to Parks, black people are often portrayed as one thing, especially those who consume salacious reality TV shows, but are more than that. In Phaedra’s own words,
“Black women are mosaic. We are diverse in nature.”
She downplays her role in creating the drug/rape rumor and paints herself as a survivor of an evil regime (Bravo), that used her to entertain viewers.
“Television is a tough business. And the purpose of television is obviously to entertain and sometimes it’s at the expense of the people, who are doing the entertaining.” She tells the audience of mostly African-American women. “It’s a very hard platform to obviously maintain certain things on, because it is… a platform where they have the power to edit and make things appear as though, they’re one thing, when it’s something totally different. But you can’t live with regrets.”
She continues: “The size of your problem is sometimes indicative of the magnitude of your destiny!”
Her role on the reality show was often southern belle, queen of the quips and the shadiest (peach) tree. But many viewers often labeled her a liar and a fraud.
“I know that I am bigger than an hour show. I’m bigger than 12-minutes that you see me on the screen. I’m bigger than one day, that you’ve watched me because I’ve been living over 40-years.”
Later in the segment, Phaedra lets the attendees know that regardless of being fired from RHOA, God has done so much for her.
“No matter what happens, if God never does anything else for me, I have three houses, a plethora of cars, two children, great parents, I’m proud and beautiful.”
After the RHOA Reunion scandal exploded, Porsha revealed that the two are no longer on speaking terms. Porsha, who was best friends with Phaedra, broke down in tears in the finale when it was revealed that she was used as a pawn in Phaedra’s feud with Kandi.
CLICK: Andy Cohen Reveals #RHOA Cast Refuses to Film with Phaedra Parks!
As exclusively reported, plans are underway for Phaedra to film a final scene during season 10 with Porsha. Porsha is the only RHOA cast member willing to film with the attorney. Phaedra is expected to apologize to her former friend and have a more formal departure from the show. Although she apologized to Kandi during the reunion, Phaedra only attempted to repair her friendship with Porsha.
Watch a snippet of Phaedra’s segment at the Essence Festival below.
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Avigail is an Entertainment blogger at All About The Tea, who specializes in The Real Housewives of Atlanta and The Real Housewives of Potomac. Avigail has a background in marketing. She’s a Brooklynite living in the Bahamas, with a passion for travel, writing, reality TV watching, pop culture and spoken word.