The Real Housewives of Atlanta‘s Cynthia Bailey, 53, fiancé Mike Hill, 49, and their three daughters took a break from quarantining to peacefully protest following the brutal murder of George Floyd on May 25. “It felt so good to go out in the name of justice,” Cynthia told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY from her Los Angeles home in a video interview on June 5. “From that point, the focus turned from COVID-19 to Black Lives Matter,” she said, going on to note that the protests attracted “all kinds of people.”
“One of the things that surprised me the most was the people. It was so many people, all kinds of people…people were handing out water to everyone and giving snacks [out], antibacterial, masks, anything you could need,” Cynthia explained. Mike echoed, “People carrying cases down to the protests to make sure that people stayed hydrated during the march. I was blown away by the love and the compassion and just the unity…I think our kids actually took us down there as well.”
Cynthia began dating the FoxSports host after meeting on The Steve Harvey Show in 2018. The two got engaged during filming of ‘RHOA’ at Cynthia’s The Bailey Wine Cellar in July 2019. Lately, the couple has been spending plenty of time in Los Angeles as they wait to see if they can hold their 10/20/20 wedding safely in Atlanta because of the worldwide pandemic.
Mike’s daughters from a previous relationship, Kayla Hill, 18, and Ashlee’ Hill, 20, and Cynthia’s daughter Noelle Robinson, 20, have quickly become a united family during these tough times. “One of the reasons why we actually wanted to take our daughters, not that they’re not at the age to go themselves, but we’re still in a pandemic, of course, but we felt like we just needed to get out and go and see what was happening for ourselves,” Cynthia said. “Watching the news it just looked like the world was going crazy.”
The couple also discussed the stresses of raising their daughters during these tough times as we’re seeing more racial profiling and police brutality happening across the country. “Scary and empowering, for sure,” Cynthia said of being a mother of a black daughter in this day and age. “Our kids don’t know a lot of the racism that we had to go through. “I’m afraid anytime my daughters leave the house because of the world we live in and not just because of the police but because of racism and the world that we live in,” added Mike.
Cynthia and Mike are happy to use their celebrity voices to spread a message of love and equality during these trying times, and they don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. “I was actually on a group text with some of my cast mates and we were talking about doing something with our production company and even having the network taking a stand with us to promote and support Black Lives Matter for the show,” Cynthia said.
“We talk about everything else. This is something that we should absolutely be doing PSAs about as well as a group as just black people and a black cast, so we’re definitely thinking about doing some things together as a group which is great,” she poignantly explained. “I think collectively, there’s always more power than just one or two of us doing it, so that’s one thing that we’re going to be discussing. One thing about this group of ladies is, regardless if we get along all of the time or not, when it comes to doing the right thing, especially when other people are concerned and safety of our own families, we always try to come together as one. That’s when the sisterhood is real,” Cynthia added.