RHOA Phaedra Parks Responds To Twitter Backlash About "Abandoning" Apollo Nida, Divorce And NeNe Leakes's Support

"Real Housewives of Atlanta" reality star Phaedra Parks opened up about her ruined marriage with imprisoned husband, Apollo Nida in a Q&A with Bravo.com.

At season 7's premiere, the reality star arrested being criticized for not attending Apollo's hearing and says it was because the marriage was over throughout his fraud case.

"Words cannot express the turmoil this situation has caused our family, and I can't even begin to articulate how hard it has been. When you face a situation like this, you can choose to either break down or stay strong; I chose to stay strong because I have two young children that need a parent to give them stability and keep the ship sailing." She continued, "I've been criticized for not being at Apollo's hearing, but the truth is I had been there for him in so many ways for such a long time. By the time all of this went down, it was apparent the marriage was over and my focus needed to be exclusively on the wellbeing of our children. I don't think there's a parent out there who wouldn't agree."

Surprisingly, the mother of two young boys says that her once archenemies, NeNe Leakes  and former housewives cast mate, Porsha Williams have remained by her side during the whole legal ordeal, " have been extremely supportive of me and very attentive throughout this entire ordeal, and for that I am extremely grateful. Unfortunately, some of the others decided to use my personal crisis as an opportunity to further their own interests and talk to the media to get press for themselves. The lack of compassion was, at times, shocking."

During the first episode, fan's jaws dropped when Apollo said he wanted a divorce and was searching for legal counsel to start the process. In her southern belle manner, Phaedra gave him the cold shoulder and agreed seeming emotionless.

"I have been on such an emotional rollercoaster that there really isn't anything that would have surprised me. After a while you reach a point where you are so numb that nothing fazes you anymore. And again, by that point my attention was exclusively on the children's needs and doing everything I could to minimize the impact of this on their lives. My children's health and happiness will always be center stage," she said.