PORSHA WILLIAMS CAN FINALLY EXHALE

THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ATLANTA STAR OPENS UP FOR THE FIRST TIME ABOUT HER SHOCKING DIVORCE: I FILED OUT OF NECESSITY TO PROTECT MYSELF'

- DAVE QUINN

MIRROR IMAGE Williams re-created many memorable scenes from Waiting to Exhale on-set on May 16.

Porsha Williams is mid-pose while re-creating a pivotal scene from the 1995 movie Waiting to Exhale for her People shoot when she starts to get choked up. “I didn’t expect today to be emotional,” she says.

“But the moment I sat down at that vanity and started brushing my hair, just like Angela [Bassett] in the movie, it hit me: I’ve prettied up the ugly in my life too, when it wasn’t so pretty. And I’m done doing that.”

MOM LIFE Williams's daughter Pilar, whom she shares with ex Dennis McKinley, was extremely close to Guobadia. "She loved Simon," says Williams. Pilar and Guobadia have not spoken since the split.

It’s been 30 years since the film—which sees Bernadine Harris (played by Bassett) reclaim her strength following her husband’s infidelity and the resulting dissolution of her marriage—but for the Real Housewives of Atlanta star, the movie’s message of rage and resilience couldn’t be more relevant.

On-set on May 16 in her hometown of Atlanta, Williams was processing her own experience with betrayal in real time. Just weeks after the shoot, following an intense legal battle with businessman Simon Guobadia, Williams’s divorce was finalized on June 11 by a Georgia judge. Guobadia, 61, appeared on Zoom from his native Nigeria, where he was deported to from the U.S. because of immigration violations, including bank and credit card fraud. “You go through different stages,” says Williams, 44. “You have that anger. You have the moment where you have to fight for your life in a court situation. And then, toward the end, you have the clarity where you realize you are still blessed. There’s a whole new life that you can start.”