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RHOA Season 11

ATLANTA, GA – JULY 10: Eva Marcille, Nene Leakes, Kandi Burruss, Cynthia Bailey and Porsha Williams of the Show Atlanta Housewives attend ATL Live On The Park at Park Tavern on July 10, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Prince Williams/WireImage)

The women of Real Housewives of Atlanta are back, but last night’s premiere episode focused more so on the men (and little boys) in their lives.

When we start the episode, NeNe and Gregg Leakes are getting support from family and friends as he undergoes his cancer treatment. Ever since sharing back in June that Gregg had been diagnosed with cancer, NeNe had been mum about what his exact type of cancer and stage was. But during the premiere, she revealed that he was dealing with stage 3 colon cancer. NeNe said that she’s tried to maintain a strong front for her husband and sons, but when she’s alone, she cries “a lot.” As friends and family gather to pray and support Gregg, he shared a story about how he wrote a letter to NeNe before being told that he needed to undergo surgery ASAP on his colon or he wouldn’t make it. He asked his doctor to give the letter to her if he didn’t wake up from the surgery, and broke down in tears at the thought. But Gregg also displayed a lot of strength in front of his support system, telling them that after making it through the successful surgery to remove most of his colon, “Now I’m going to beat cancer’s a–.”

While one couple fights together, Cynthia Bailey and new man Mike Hill (whom she met through Steve Harvey) are trying to grow together despite living apart. Her Fox Sports newscaster beau lives in Los Angeles while she, of course, is in Atlanta. But that hasn’t stopped them from having some pretty steamy Facetime conversations and private moments over the course of their relationship, which at the time had been going for three months. According to the 51-year-old beauty, Mike “definitely has swam in the cool waters of Lake Bailey…several times.” He also has a pretty good relationship with daughter Noelle, so far, who met him during a recent trip to visit Cynthia. They’re a good-looking pair, aren’t they?

Speaking of good-looking pairs, Eva Marcille and and her (then-)fiancé Michael Sterling make their premiere appearance with the rest of their happy family, including infant son Michael Jr. and Marley (Eva’s daughter with ex-boyfriend Kevin McCall) for a family photo shoot. The pair seem pretty perfect for each other, and Michael knows how to take a step back and let his lady shine, as he did during the photo shoot when she wanted some solo model moment shots. But Eva managed to make the moment a tad shady when asked to share the difference between her modeling experience and that of co-star Cynthia Bailey’s. As she put it, there’s about a “20-year difference” in abilities between both booked and busy beauties.

As for Kandi, she has a lot to celebrate and consider at the same time. Her group, Xscape, is being honored with the Golden Note Award from ASCAP, which is like a lifetime achievement award for their songwriting work. As she preps for that, she is also trying to figure out if she and Todd should have another baby. They still have two embryos left that they could use from their IVF experience (which was how they had son Ace), but daughter Riley isn’t feeling it. She tells Kandi that “You work too much,” and since her mom isn’t able to be as present for her and Ace as she could be due to so many responsibilities (she literally finds out she missed his parenting meeting at school during a confessional), they shouldn’t do it. But you know Kandi. Once she sets her mind on something, it’s likely going to happen. And with DonJuan always around to help play babysitter, she can’t go wrong.

And lastly, how could one forget about Porsha Williams? When we start the season, sis has a lot going on in the love department. We get to see and hear from her new man, Dennis McKinley, whom we find out owns multiple businesses around Atlanta: a hookah joint, a nightclub and he’s the owner of The Original Hot Dog Factory. So the man has quite a few coins that he is happy to spend on Porsha. When he’s introduced, the two are at Brown & Co. Jewelers in Atlanta, looking over engagement rings together (with one costing as high as more than $300k). Porsha also spends a great deal of time during the episode wearing white, as she’s in a bridal state of mind, which for the record, she actually does wear in most of her scenes and in her confessional.

Porsha is on the fence about whether or not to introduce the rest of the cast to Dennis (and we will later find out it’s for good reason), but due to the fact that they’re both talking about getting engaged sooner than later, she will have to show him off some time in the near future. It could happen in Miami, where the couple are traveling for her birthday, and ironically, at the same time that she helped put together a surprise trip to support NeNe at a comedy show performance. (Her phone call to Kandi, who is still not a fan of hers, was so awkward!) This could also be when he asks for her hand in marriage, so there is a lot that we will see happen in the next few episodes. But in case it wasn’t clear enough, Porsha is very ready to be Mrs. McKinley.

Now that you know the rundown of last night’s episode, check out what Twitter had to say about it all. 

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