Drew Sidora, 35, has butterflies as she gets ready to hold a peach on season 13 of The Real Housewives of Atlanta. “Yeah, I’m nervous!” Drew told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY on Nov. 23 from her Atlanta home of the show. “I just cringe anyways seeing myself on TV. I had never gotten used to that. Obviously, yes. This is all new to me,” she confessed.
This isn’t the first time that Drew, who’s acted in television in movies since the age of 8, has been asked to join the cast — revealing she’s turned down the gig twice! “I’m super excited because I was supposed to be on this show a few times,” Drew explained. The new reality star opted not to appear on the show five years ago following a difficult pregnancy with son Machai, now 5. “Back in 2015 when I was approached, I was pregnant with my now 5-year-old and my water broke at 28 weeks. I was in the hospital for 5 weeks on bed rest and I couldn’t make it through Atlanta to do it. I was like, ‘This isn’t the right time.'”
After moving cities and hanging with her pals and former and current ‘wives Cynthia Bailey, 53, and Eva Marcille, 36, she started warming up to the idea. “So the next time when I was approached, we were in the midst of moving to Atlanta,” Drew said. “And I was able to hangout with Eva and Cynthia at her wine opening and had a lot of fun and was like, ‘OK, this is dope I love it!’ My life is not perfect. I go through things. I like to have a lot of fun. Just being able to share in that way is just very great timing and I feel like it was meant to be. We’re in Atlanta now. I know Cynthia and she introduced me to the group of ladies, so I was just like, ‘Why not?'”
But the third time was a charm for the mother of Machai, Aniya, 2, and Josiah, 9 — and she felt a message from a higher power that it was finally time to say yes! “When the opportunity came around a third time I was like, ‘OK, God. What are you trying to tell me?'” Drew added. “It just felt like at this time in my life, I have been through so much. Doing different movies and filming different TV shows, my nature and where I come from, I don’t ever get to show and share myself. People don’t get to see I’m human just like everyone else.”
Although fans won’t see Drew in the season premiere, she teases we can expect a lot of fun and some family drama from her this season. “I had quite a few dramatic moments!” Drew teased. “I think 2020 for everyone has just been unreal, so dealing with the pandemic, you get to a breaking point. I went through 3 surgeries on my achilles and suffered a staph infection and had to have antibiotics through an IV and I have 3 kids, my mom living with us. So it was just more than enough to go around where I just feel like we were having to work through a lot of our issues on camera. But it’s been all in all beneficial because I think our marriage is getting stronger and we are really dedicated to doing the work to stay together. Divorce is not something we want, at all.”
The Real Housewives of Atlanta premieres it’s thirteenth season on Sun. Dec. 6 at 9pm on Bravo.