Phaedra Parks, 46, is returning to reality TV to fix her relationship with boyfriend Medina Islam. The couple will be working through their problems in the new season of Marriage Boot Camp: Hip Hop Edition, which premieres July 2 on WE tv. “It’s going to be the best season because it’s a wild cast of people, to put it mildly,” Phaedra told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY. “You’ve got a lot of passion, and you’ve got a lot of love. When three children were born from this season, that shows there may have been a lot of fighting, but there’s a lot of making up.”
Even though she’s no stranger to reality TV, having been a main Housewife on The Real Housewives of Atlanta from season 3 to season 9, the Marriage Boot Camp: Hip Hop Edition experience was a roller coaster for her. “There were a lot of things that came up that I never thought would be a part of the show,” she admitted. “Even though I’m a veteran of reality TV, I’ve never participated in anything this explosive. If it makes Housewives look like a walk in the park, you know it’s crazy.” She added, “It makes Housewives look like a day at Disney. Between the ambulance calls, it’s going to be a lot.”
In addition to working through relationship problems, the cast members will be exploring their own personal issues. “I think people really grew as couples, but also as individuals because there’s a lot of issues that come up that I don’t think any of us expected to deal with,” Phaedra teased. “I came in it thinking it was only going to be about me and Medina and counseling and building on our relationship. But within the few weeks that we were there, we dealt with substance abuse, domestic violence, infidelity, food issues, and more.”
Phaedra added that she “really learned a lot about friendship… I’ve never been in a situation like this, but it was the most valuable thing I could have ever done for myself personally because I learned a lot about myself and how I behave in relationships.”
At the time that Marriage Boot Camp: Hip Hip Edition was filmed, Phaedra and Medina had only been together for a few months. They met on an elite dating site. Phaedra opened up about why she and Medina needed help with their communication. “Unlike a lot of women out there, I have a lot of masculine traits because I work in very male-dominated fields. I’m a lawyer with mostly men and in the funeral business with mostly men,” she told HollywoodLife. “Communication can be hard for me because I’m constantly working. I’m very type A, and sometimes I’m a hard nut to crack.” Marriage Boot Camp: Hip Hop Edition will air Thursdays at 9 p.m. on WE tv.