Phaedra Parks on life after divorce, navigating single motherhood

The self-described Southern belle, mommy, mortician, mediator, attorney, housewife and author of Secrets of the Southern Belle, according to her Instagram profile, Phaedra Parks returns to “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” for their ninth season. According to reports, Parks and Nida were officially divorced in April 2016.

Apollo Nida, 37, is in federal prison in Fort Dix, New Jersey, a maximum security facility.

On her own, she’s not alone. Parks is leaning on the support of family and a “great governess” named Lisa as she navigates single motherhood and serial entrepreneurship.

“Hindsight is always 20/20, but it was very hard for awhile trying to figure it out,” she says in an interview with People. “Things have leveled out now. Boys are both in school, my parents are helping out, uncles are helping out, I have a night manager, a great governess — I have surrounded myself with people who encourage me and really support me.”

She goes on to say this about Lisa, “Wives do way more than husband do. I’m not attracted to women sexually, but I don’t know any woman who can’t run circles around a man in terms of organization and getting things done and not needing too much patting on the back.”