NEED TO KNOW
- Kenya Moore and Brit Eady are both missing from the Real Housewives of Atlanta season 16 reunion, which films June 5 in Atlanta
- Moore was suspended mid-season after sharing explicit photos of Eady, in retaliation for Eady's comments about having a "pistol" for Moore.
- The reunion to will air this summer on Bravo
The Real Housewives of Atlanta season 16 reunion will be missing two of its stars.
PEOPLE can exclusively reveal that Brit Eady and Kenya Moore both won't appear on the annual season wrap-up, which films in Atlanta on Thursday, June 5.
Each is absent for different reasons. A source tells PEOPLE Eady, 37, skipped the taping on her own accord amid a falling out with her costars, while a second source says Moore, 54, was not invited by Bravo to participate in the reunion.
Housewives Porsha Williams, Phaedra Parks, Shamea Morton Mwangi, Kelli Ferrell and Angela Oakley were all in attendance, as was Cynthia Bailey, who returned to the franchise this season as a Friend.
Reps for the network did not immediately respond when contacted for an explanation, but did release a reunion seating chart on Thursday that did not include Eady and Moore in the mix.
Eady did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment, while Moore issued a statement on Twitter, Thursday, saying that she was "disappointed to not be a part of the #RHOA 16 reunion taping." She previously said in a long YouTube video in April that she was "disinvited" from the reunion, after previously being asked to participate.
Moore was the longest running RHOA star when season 16 began filming back in April 2024. But her time in the season was cut short when on June 25 of that year, her cast members were told she would no longer be a peach-holder.
The former Miss USA winner and actress found herself in hot water when she exposed sexually explicit photos from Eady's past to guests at the June 6-opening of her Kenya Moore Hair Spa. She was suspended and, after an internal investigation, exited the series.
A source told PEOPLE at the time Moore was retaliating against Eady after Eady allegedly threatened Moore with a gun during a heated confrontation caught on camera. "Kenya was concerned for her safety, that is the truth," the insider said. "Never for one second did Kenya feel like she was being taken seriously for her fears. It's unfair."
But a second insider close to the show insisted that "at no time was Kenya ever threatened with a weapon, nor was there ever a weapon present during the course of production."
Viewers eventually got to see the conflict play out during the airing of season 16, where Eady in fact was shown boasting about having a "pistol" for Moore. Eady has claimed her comments were a mistake made in the heat of the moment, and that she "never had a gun in my possession at all."
"I still beat myself up, just the act that I allowed her to trigger me. There's no excuse for what I did, for what I said," she explained during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live. "I felt attacked ... I mentioned a pistol, which I never should have. And I was wrong."
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Apologies have come from Moore, as well.
"Hindsight is always 50/50," she said during a November 2024 appearance on Tamron Hall. "If I could do it all over again, I believe the photos were very distasteful, and I elevated the situation. I've elevated situations before, and I've taken full accountability for the things that I've done."
She went on to express how "sorry" she was for what she'd done, adding that, "I didn't have to take it that far."
"I felt threatened..." she said. "I've never had a child in a situation like this before. So, that's why it escalated to the point where I was protecting not only myself, but my child."
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Prince Williams/WireImage
Since then, Moore has received support from many of her fellow RHOA stars, including Williams who told PEOPLE at Bravo Fan Fest 2024 in Miami that "forgiveness should be in everyone's future in their own time."
"I think that was very noble of her to apologize," said Williams. "At the end of the day, everybody's human. Some people have thresholds, and then you break it and then they go low — or they go all the way to hell. But either way, once you recognize that you've done something to hurt someone and you acknowledge it? I think, let's start there."
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Gizelle Hernandez/James Bianchi/Bravo
As for a possible return to RHOA, Moore said on Tamron Hall that she and executive producer Andy Cohen have "had some conversations" and that he's been a "great support system" throughout the ordeal.
"He has called, he has checked on me, he has given me advice. And I feel like he's a really good friend and I just appreciate the support," she said of Cohen and the network. "That was my family for 12 years. I love them and I feel like they love me, it was just a really unfortunate situation."
Cohen, at Bravo Fan Fest, echoed his support for Moore, telling PEOPLE he was "proud" of her for taking accountability but adding that no decisions about her possible return have been made yet.
The Real Housewives of Atlanta airs Sundays (8 p.m. ET) on Bravo, and streams the next day on Peacock. The reunion is expected to premiere this summer.