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Real Housewives of Atlanta Source Says Cast Changes Are Afoot

With one housewife on her way out, our sources confirm an Atlanta bigwig will be filling in her vacancy

By Ashley Fultz, Megan Masters Mar 23, 2010 5:30 PMTags
The Real Housewives of AtlantaQuantrell Colbert/BRAVO

Break out the catnip, because the claws are coming out when Bravo's Real Housewives of Atlanta returns this summer with a notable shift to the cast.

What plot point could possibly be bigger than resident trainwreck Kim Zolciak leaving Big Papa for a ladylove? How about a fan favorite wifey saying so long to make way for a newbie? We've just gotten the exclusive 411 on a new castmember... 

The identity of the latest Atlanta spitfire to join the show is super celeb attorney Phaedra Parks, according to Kim's former publicist, Jonathan Jaxson.

"Phaedra Parks will join the cast this season as the sixth housewife," Jaxson tells us. "I know from multiple castmembers that she was added and now there will be six, but they plan to slowly weed out one of the women by the end of this season."

So who will go? Jaxson believes it will be Lisa Wu-Hartwell, aka the coolest, calmest, most normal broad of the bunch.

There doesn't appear to be any bad blood amid the ladies regarding Lisa's reported departure, only the simple fact that location really is everything. Lisa and NFLer hubby Ed Hartwell now reside some 40 minutes outside of Atlanta, making production on Real Housewives difficult for all involved.

Bravo is keeping tight-lipped about Parks joining the Real Housewives, releasing a statement earlier this month confirming the return of the current five leading ladies. Kim, however, must be tardy for that party, because just last week she confirmed the addition of a sixth housewife to a local Florida television station, stating only that the woman was an Atlanta-area attorney.

If her Twitter page is any indication of what she might bring to Atlanta, Parks says she's a "super sassy but always classy attorney to the stars."

Uh-huh, we've heard that "classy" line before from these Real Housewives and will believe it when we see it.

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