Drew Sidora joined The Real Housewives of Atlanta in its 13th season and came in being open and honest about the good, bad, and ugly in her marriage to Ralph Pittman. This season picks up and shows that the Sidora-Pittman household remains on shaky ground. Making things worse, Sidora doesn’t always have the best interactions with her co-stars, but you can always count on her to be a trending topic on social media every week.
Shadow and Act Unscripted spoke with Sidora and her marital issues, drama with her co-stars Sheree Whitfield and Sanya Richards Ross, her acting and singing career, and more.
The core of Sidora’s drama that kicked off with Whitfield involved an assistant named Anthony who claimed he also worked for the OG
According to Anthony, he cut ties with Whitfield because he was not properly compensated. Once Sidora shared the news with the crew, it was revealed that Anthony was also spilling tea about Sidora’s household, including that her husband was potentially gay. Looking back, Sidora says her attitude was misdirected and should have been targeted to Anthony.
“I did not intend to get on the wrong foot with Sheree. I genuinely wanted to get to know her and build a relationship,” she explained. Her co-stars suggested that she fire him, which Sidora initially did not do. Instead, she placed him on probation.
“Anthony, let me tell you, he had a cute degree in marketing, and that was why we hired him. He was very professional until he wasn't. And as I got to know him and as I got to see certain things,” she told us.
Since filming wrapped, she too has cut ties with him. “Anthony is no longer [with us]. He apologized, but he is not my assistant because at the end of the day, I got three kids, and I don’t need no extra drama, especially if I’m paying for it and it’s an extra liability,” she said firmly.
Outside of the drama with her co-stars and former employees, Sidora’s marriage is always a conversation starter. Fans still haven’t forgiven Pittman for his three-day beach excursion he took to Tampa without communicating with his family at all during his vacation. This season, Sidora confronts him over a female assistant he fired after she discovered text messages of her offering him a massage. Sidora learns Pittman remained in contact with the woman. Furthermore, whenever Sidora addresses issues in their marriage, Pittman seemingly makes her the issue, often leaving Sidora in tears. Viewers accuse him of gaslighting her.
“I did not even know what that meant. I was like, Wait, was it? When I read it, I was like, This is actually sounding like exactly what’s happening. So we had a counseling session about it and really, truly — it could be looked at that as that way,” she admits.
Still, Sidora is dedicated to making her marriage work. She insists what fans see at the surface with Pittman is his worst, but she says she knows his best. “Yeah, my husband’s an asshole. Let’s just call it what it is. But you know, he’s other things too. And I’m learning to appreciate that,” she said.
“And I hope other people will get to know him and see he's a great father. He can be sweet, he can be affectionate. He's a giver. And I just hope people start to see that about him, because right now it's like, why is she with him? You don't really see it. But, hopefully people will see the other side of him because he's very, very layered,” she said.
While there’s always drama with the RHOA cast, the one thing that Sidora is hopeful for people to see is her getting back to what she does best, and that’s music and acting. She has a list of fan favorites under her belt with roles in The Game, Step Up, and the TLC biopic CrazySexyCool. For the first time in several years, she’s also releasing new music.
“I’m always working, and so I hope the timing lines up to where you guys can come on set with me. I’m starting a movie in August. It’s an action film. I’m going to do some taekwondo, and I’m excited about this role,” she gushed.
“This is a season about getting back to me. I'm actually in the studio working on music, which a lot of people may not even know that I do, but I'm excited to share that as well. Music never has been big for me, so at one point, I felt like maybe I wasn’t supposed to be doing music. And I threw it away, but I just felt like I can't ever shake it,” she added.
“And it’s such a big part of me. I always have written. I’ve written for other artists. I just felt like with everything I’m going through in my life, why not put it in my music? So I just feel like it’s good timing and I’m going to put it out. Putting out an EP, it’s going to be out like literally in a couple of weeks,” she warned.
