On her way out the door, Sheree Whitfield said the stereotyping of black women that has grown out of The Real Housewives of Atlanta is unfair.
“Unfortunately, in the black community there’s always a microscope on what we do and that’s not fair because you have other shows like Jersey Shore – they’re getting drunk and fist fighting,” Whitfield told Essence. “Then you have Mob Wives and Housewives of New Jersey – they’re flipping tables.”
She pointed out that these shows aren’t being boycotted and aren’t under nearly as much scrutiny as black reality shows.
The reality show solidified Whitfield’s reputation as a no-nonsense woman who refused to let anyone stand in her way. Sheree claimed she was finally getting tired of all the “bickering and fighting” that took place on almost every episode of the hit reality show.
Whitfield sat down with magazine to discuss why she made the decision to leave. After seeing how the women were portrayed throughout the four seasons Whitfield was less than impressed. The highlights of the show always contained clips and images of arguments that came close to full-out brawls. Although she admitted having some responsibility for it, she wasn’t comfortable with the lack of control that came with being on the show—a complaint similar to the one recently lodged by Tanya Young Williams about her first season on Basketball Wives. Since producers have a large role in what happens, Whitfield claimed that most of the drama was sparked when they were forced to mingle with people they wouldn’t typically be around. Even with all the drama and negative stereotyping, the reality program was still quite successful, but this wasn’t enough to get Sheree to stay. She had something more important on her mind. “I was going through some really tough things in my life and watching back and seeing how it affected not only my life, but also my kids’ lives, I made a decision that I didn’t want to be selfish. My kids come first,” she told Essence.
“I’ve been spending more time with my kids and family and planning my next move,” Whitfield said. “I’ve got a couple projects that I’m working on that I’m really excited about.” Since leaving the show, she has partnered with a company called Xooma in order to create the ultimate 5-million pound fitness challenge. The project is Whitfield’s attempt to “help a generation get healthy.”
