‘RHOA’: Cynthia Bailey and Mike Hill Open Up About Their ‘Love Story, Not Storyline’ (Exclusive)
The ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’ star and her sportscaster beau fill ET in on their whirlwind romance, which is headed toward marriage.
Cynthia Bailey is a lady in love.
“I am so grateful that I met this man because I was pretty good being by myself, but as busy as I am running my Cynthia Bailey empire, I go to bed at night alone, and it is lonely,” she tells ET. “This feels really good.”
The Real Housewives of Atlanta star and her boyfriend, Fox Sports personality Mike Hill, sat down with ET to break down their whirlwind romance that all started on Steve Harvey’s daytime show, Steve, back in February.
“I was doing a radio show at Fox, and my co-host knew one of the producers over there and asked me if I would go on and be one of the bachelors for a dating game, and I was like, ‘For who?’” Hill recalls. “And they said, ‘One of the Real Housewives.’ And I said, ‘Which one?’ And they said, Cynthia Bailey, and I said, OK! Yeah, all right. I'll do that.”
“I didn't think anything of it,” he continues. “I didn't know what to expect. I didn't think Cynthia Bailey needed to go on a dating game to find love. She's beautiful, she's fine, kind, compassionate, all that stuff, and seems really genuine, but I went on there not knowing what to expect, and thank goodness it just worked out for us!”
“I didn't really have a high expectation either,” Bailey admits. “Steve was like, ‘I'm gonna find you somebody! I'm gonna find you somebody!’ And I was like, yeah, yeah, honey. I have been out here in these streets, I've been on dating apps and everything, and if I haven't found anybody, how in the world are you gonna find somebody? And sure enough…”
The love connection almost didn’t happen, though, because Harvey endorsed Hill before Bailey ever had the chance to talk to him. She says she went into the segment telling herself she wouldn’t give Harvey the satisfaction of choosing his pick for her. But then, things changed.
“She was trying to avoid her blessings!” Hill jokes.
“I picked you because you were the one,” Bailey tells Hill. “Mike Hill is the one, like, I cannot believe the words that come out of my mouth. He is the one. He is the one. I love this man.”
The couple has been exclusive for about six months now and splits their time between Bailey’s home in Atlanta and Hill’s house in Los Angeles. They say they’ll live a bicoastal lifestyle, because neither one can uproot their lives and move across the country full-time.
“Right now, we have a two-week rule,” Bailey shares. “Someone's gotta get on a plane every two weeks, and I mean, every two weeks.”
Bailey and Hill, or “Chill” as they’ve dubbed themselves (“C” for Cynthia, “Hill” for, well, Hill), say they’re taking their relationship one day at a time, but things are getting serious fast. Hill promises to put a ring on that finger “soon.”
“It's weird because we're not in a rush, but we're not taking our time, either,” Bailey explains. “We're just going with the flow. I mean, I feel like we could, like, three weeks from now, 'Hey, babe? Whatcha doin'? You feel like getting married today?' Yeah.”
“There's no rules!” she exclaims. “I'm 51 years old. I don't have rules. One thing people keep saying to me, well, one of the things people keep saying to us is, 'This is great, but do you think you're moving too fast? Do you think it's going so fast?' Hello, we're grown! It's not like we're 20! I can't go fast -- can I go faster is the question. I really want to run toward my future with him. I love him, I'm at peace.”
“I know that if it's in God’s will for me to be married again, for us to be married, then this is the woman I want to marry,” Hill shares. “I never thought I'd say that again, I've been there before … But I do know that, if it's somebody I want to be with for the rest of my life, it's Cynthia Bailey.”
Both Hill and Bailey are divorced, Bailey most recently having split from Peter Thomas, as documented on Real Housewives.
“Peter and I still talk,” she admits. “We don't talk all the time, you know? I've moved on, he's moved on... but you know me, I like to be cool with all my exes.”
Bailey likes to stay so cool, that she and Hill are actually looking to do a big, blended family vacation, inviting along her ex, Leon Robinson, and their daughter, Noelle, as well as Hill’s ex-wife and the daughters they share!
“We’re trying to embrace that whole Will and Jada thing!” Bailey quips.
Fans of RHOA will get to see the couple embrace that identity on season 11 of the show.
“I was nervous when we first started dating, and once we got serious, one of the things I was nervous about was, would he come on the show?” Bailey divulges. “Because, you know, you meet guys and everyone doesn't want to be a part of the show, but lucky for me -- he wasn't like, 'Please sign me up for the show!' It wasn't like that … [He said], ‘I will do whatever I have to do to support you.’”
“I just knew, if I'm gonna be in her life, and we're in love, and that's part of her -- but see, the thing is: it's not a storyline. It's a love story,” Hill says. “That's the thing, I don't want to be a storyline. I want to be a love story, and it's for real. Everything we do on this show is genuine. It's love. I really care for her, and so, we have a good time on the show.”
The Real Housewives of Atlanta airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.
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