Cynthia Bailey, 53, shared her proudest moment during season 12 of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, when her daughter Noelle Robinson, 20, came out to her mom on TV. “It was an honest moment and as a parent you never know what that moment’s going to look like or where it’s going to be,” Cynthia told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY on June 25. “I think it was a powerful thing as well. We just happened to be driving and it happened.”
Noelle has been seen on the show for 10 seasons now, so she’s clearly comfortable around the cameras. After coming out as sexually fluid during a casual car ride with her mom, she hasn’t regretted her very public decision. “I definitely don’t have any regrets,” Noelle added. “I think it was a really powerful moment in the season that I feel like impacted a lot of people in a positive way. I’m definitely happy that I did it. I’m definitely happy with that decision.”
The episode taped much before viewers got to see the conversation take place. And because of this, it gave the mother-daughter duo time to prepare for the social media haters they knew would show up to judge. “We filmed the show almost 8 months before you actually see it on the TV,” Noelle said. “So, I kind of mentally prepared myself for the worst in terms of the hate comments. I actually did get an outpour of positivity for the most part, I was pretty happy. I definitely found out about a great thing called a filter. I can type in all of these words and they won’t even pop up and I can just move on. I just filter or block. It isn’t necessary. I’m happy in real life. I don’t care what people think anymore.”
Cynthia knew it wouldn’t be easy to watch her daughter get attacked online, so she had a plan in place for herself to help cope. “I actually encouraged her to just take a little social media break after as well,” Cynthia revealed. “Noelle did get a lot of love but she did get some hate that she had to deal with. Not everyone is for gay rights. Everyone’s not for gay people, so she did get some of that hate which was tough. We got through it.”