Kenya Moore leaves ‘RHOA’ after suspension over explicit photo scandal

Kenya Moore leaves the club The Real Housewives of Atlanta.

PEOPLE can confirm that Moore will not be returning to the series. The cast was informed of the news on Tuesday, June 25.

Sources close to the production told PEOPLE that the decision came from the network — although TMZ, which first reported the news, said Moore mutually agreed to take a break from the show. The network insiders also claim Moore is exploring her legal options “because she’s not happy with how this whole mess turned out.”

Neither a rep for Moore nor a spokesperson for Bravo immediately responded to PEOPLE’s request for comment, but the former Miss USA appeared to address the news on X (formerly known as Twitter).

“#TEAMTWIRLFOREVER You are the best fans anyone could ask for. And I love you all so much,” she wrote. “Forever and always.”

News about the reality star’s inglorious exit from RHOA comes after she was suspended indefinitely from filming for allegedly posting explicit images of new cast member Brittany Eady.

The images – which sources tell PEOPLE were shown on camera at the opening of her new Kenya Moore Hair Spa on Thursday, June 6 – show Eady performing oral sex on an unnamed man. Eady was not present at the spa when the snaps were released.

At the time, an insider told PEOPLE that Moore retaliated after Eady allegedly threatened her co-star with the word “gun.” However, a second source close to the production denied this, saying, “At no point was Kenya threatened with a gun, nor was a gun ever used during production.”

Bravo launched an investigation to look into the incident, the results of which, sources said, led to Moore’s exit.

But an insider insists to PEOPLE on Tuesday, June 25, that the threat was real. “Kenya was worried about her safety, that’s the truth,” the source says. “Not for a second did Kenya feel her fears were taken seriously. That’s unfair.”

Moore has joined RHOA in the fifth season. She was a main cast member in the series, with the exception of season 11, when she was pregnant with her five-year-old daughter Brooklyn.

she goes RHOA as the franchise’s longest-running winner. The show recently had a long production hiatus and a major recast resulted in the departure of other regular cast members, including Kandi Burruss, Shereé Whitfield, Marlo Hampton and Sanya Richards-Ross.

Porsha Williams, one of Moore’s longtime friends, returned to the series this year and fans were excited to see what would become of the two.

In addition to Eady, the cast included restaurant owner and former Food Network employee Kelli Ferrell and Angela Oakley, wife of NBA star Charles Oakley. Shamea Morton Mwangi, who appeared on the show as a guest and friend since season 5, was promoted to full-time housewife.

In the role of a friend, a familiar face from the franchise will be seen: supermodel Cynthia Bailey, who was a housewife from seasons 3 to 13 and the first cast of The ultimate Real Housewives girls trip.

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Moore had not yet commented on her exit, but in an Instagram Live on June 14, she told her followers: “You will see me. Despite all of these things, I am not going anywhere.”

She also defended herself against claims that what she allegedly did to Eady was “revenge porn,” writing on X (formerly known as Twitter) on June 8: “I would never engage in revenge porn, I have never distributed anyone’s private images or footage, nor have I requested images belonging to others to threaten or blackmail.”

The Real Housewives of Atlanta can be streamed on Peacock.