Marlo Hampton Announces #RHOA Departure Before Season 16

Marlo Hampton has thrown the peach in and will no longer be a cast member of The Real Housewives of Atlanta.

Source: Prince Williams / Getty

Marlo sat down with PEOPLE and revealed that she won’t be returning to the Bravo franchise for season 16.

“My contract with Real Housewives of Atlanta ended when season 15 wrapped. This break from RHOA is a fresh start, allowing me the space to participate in new creative entertainment projects focused on my future, and not reliving my past,” she said.

“My nephews are transitioning into pivotal stages of their academic adolescence, and I am focused on my representation in their eyes and getting back to showing my multifaceted lifestyle of philanthropy, fashion, and fabulosity! I am thankful for this amazing platform of Housewives, which has allowed me to bring awareness to foster care, my non-profit Glam It Up, Inc., and showcase my fashion showroom, Le’Archive. I look forward to my continued relationship with Bravo and NBC Universal.”

Hampton’s exit comes only two years after she was made a full-time peach holder. She first hit the screen on the franchise back in season 4 as a friend of former cast member NeNe Leakes. The Le’ Archive fashionista returned in seasons 6, 8 and 9 as a guest. Then Marlo returned to friend status in 10, 11, 12 and 13.

Throughout her journey, Hampton and her intriguing clapbacks became beloved by fans. Her scene-stealing moments sparked a social media movement advocating for her promotion. Bravo fulfilled the request in seasons 14 and 15.

When she sat down with PEOPLE back in April 2022 she stated, “It’s still surreal to me.” Adding that she wouldn’t feel like the role was “really real” until she watched herself on the show. “I have this peach … I’m just excited.”

That feeling, however, didn’t last long as diminished viewership and internal conflicts among the cast compelled the network to implement significant alterations to RHOA.

The series underwent a production hiatus for several months, making changes internally and restructing the Housewives. During BravoCon 2023 in November, Andy Cohen clarified that there wouldn’t be a Real Housewives of New York City-style reboot but mentioned the show would leverage specific stars as anchors.

“I always love building with what we have,” he said at the time. “I think Atlanta has some really strong building blocks that are already there and we have a growth opportunity for Atlanta.”

More Cast Shake-ups For The Upcoming Season 16 Of RHOA

Source: Jocelyn Prescod / Bravo

Those changes have been made apparent with several members exiting the show. News broke that Kandi Burruss would be departing the show after 14 years. Messy fan-favorite Porsha Williams will return after a two-season absence.

As for the remaining peach holders — including Kenya Moore, Drew Sidora, Shereé Whitfield and Sanya Richards-Ross — their status remains unknown.

A lot of fans have been wondering how the new season will play out and if the viewership will ever get back to the days when the franchise dominated the ratings.

Earlier this month, Cohen, opened up about the future of the franchise while discussing Williams-Guobadia’s return on his Radio Andy SiriusXM channel.

“We’ve got wonderful casting. We’ve got some amazing new gals, and this is gonna feel, I’m feeling very positive about the new season of Atlanta, so just standby and you will hear more.”

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