When Angela Oakley joined The Real Housewives of Atlanta for Season 16, she wanted to be as authentic as possible and show her reality to fans. It paid off, as the businesswoman and mother of three let viewers into both the good and bad — including marital problems with her husband, NBA legend Charles Oakley — that helped make the newbie’s first season a memorable one. Now, Angela is breaking down the highs and lows of becoming a Real Housewife through her first season and first reunion. See what she told Bravo Insider about the experience in her own words.
Angela was introduced to the group through her friendship with Drew Sidora, who has been a cast member of RHOA since Season 13. Even though Angela had Drew to help her navigate the group dynamics, she admitted it wasn’t exactly what she expected.
So, Drew was trying to bring me on a few years back, actually. We were connected through a mutual friend and she was just like, “Come on. Let’s do this. It’ll be fun. We’re both from Chicago!” and I’m like, “I’m not interested.” I wasn’t interested at the time, but for us to finally get to do it together and to have the season that we’ve had, it has been so much fun. She’s made this experience worthwhile. I’m grateful to Drew. We had a lot of fun just on camera, off camera, just laughing. It was good to have Drew as an ally and I’m happy that it was Drew.