Cynthia Bailey Gets Candid About Running out of Money During Her Wedding

Money was funny for Cynthia Bailey during her first season of The Real Housewives of Atlanta. The former supermodel joined the franchise in Season 3, which chronicled the road to her wedding to Peter Thomas, and their financial struggles.

In the weeks leading up to their nuptials, Thomas closed his supper club. They didn’t have substantial income coming in for them to cover the costs associated with the wedding.

Bailey says there was much more no one saw, including how she maneuvered fitting in with the group in terms of fashion and looking fabulous while filming. She opened up about her money woes in a recent episode of her Humble Brag podcast.

“It’s a very hard situation to be a Housewife. I think people don’t realize the pressure there is to keep up with the Joneses, to give a good show. People don’t want to watch broke people; they want to see wealth,” said Bailey’s co-host, Crystal Minkoff, who appeared on three seasons of the Beverly Hills franchise. Bailey then explained how she budgeted during her first season.

“Life happens, even if you are on a reality show,” Bailey said. “If my financial situation changed for whatever reason, I would have to pivot, modify, and adjust.”

“When I was going through my struggles with Peter, you better believe I was recycling whatever little designer stuff I had going in. You better believe my butt was at TJ Maxx and Marshalls trying to put together [an outfit],” she explained. “That season, I pretty much wore black the whole time because in my mind, you can’t tell black is cheap,” she candidly confessed.

She continued: “My ex-ex [Thomas] and I, when we first started the show, we were having lots of financial issues. We did a bankruptcy thing. There was just a lot that I didn’t know and understand. You know, even to the point that, like, my wedding. Girl, we was, I couldn’t even finish paying the wedding planner. The money was gone!”