For most of the cast members of Bravo’s highly successful “Housewives” franchise, that has rarely appeared to be the case. There has always been this sense — to me at least — that they weren’t comfortable in their own skin. So they tried to act younger, or over indulged in opulent living and wealth to hide the fact that they really weren’t very happy people. Bailey was different though, and the fact that she could own her age with such pride drove that point home even further.
‘I’m proud to be 45,” she happily explained, almost as if she were proudly sharing her testimony in front a support group for women in their forties. “I think that I look good to be this age, and I hope that I can encourage other women to own their age as well. You can look good in your forties … I just want more women to believe that.”
As those words of affirmation for her sisterhood wafted through the air, harmoniously dancing with the smooth jazz that played over the Bar One speakers, a familiar face walked through the door.
‘Oh, there’s my husband,” she said excitedly, as if she were a high school cheerleader with a crush on the captain of the football team.
After her husband, entrepreneur Peter Thomas, came over to kiss his wife, and exchanged pleasantries with me while I showed him samples of our photo shoot, Bailey looked at him in quiet admiration, searching his eyes to see if he approved of her latest work.
He did.
“You look amazing,” he would share as he flipped through the pictures. “And these are just straight out of the camera?”
I nodded.
“Yeah, you really look great.”
As they hugged a final time, and he walked away, Bailey eyes lovingly followed him as she shared the finer points of their relationship. “I always say that Peter is my secret weapon. I’ve accomplished a lot as an entrepreneur and I feel like I owe a lot of that to him. He is such a risk taker, and has pushed me to believe that I can accomplish anything. If it was up to me, I would have just taken the money that I have made over the years and had it conservatively saved somewhere. But Peter forced me to look within myself and go after all of the dreams that I have secretly had. I really appreciate him for that.”
Those dreams include the launch of The Bailey Agency, which thrives as a successful academy for aspiring models. But accomplishments like that only tell a small fraction of Bailey’s story. The primary reason being that she in her heart of hearts feels that she still has so much more to accomplish.
“I’m so excited about the future,” she confessed in a hushed, focused tone. “I feel like there’s so much more for me to accomplish. I’m so thankful to be where I am today — especially after experiencing so many highs and lows along the way. But I’m in a good place now, and I can honest
ly say that I have never been happier. Sometimes, I just want to freeze time and live in this moment … but I know that there are so many other things left to accomplish. And trust me, they will get done.”
And with that, we raised our glasses and touched them in agreement, toasting to her future, as well as my present — a present that brought me face-to-face with the real Cynthia Bailey.
Salud.
