Apollo Nida: Why I Look Up to the Baileys

On the last season of Real Housewives of Atlanta, Apollo Nida and Phaedra Parks put up a united front when he was plagued with rumors of a fling with Kenya Moore. Despite their drama, he reveals that he looked to two other cast members for inspiration—Cynthia Bailey and her husband Peter—on how to keep their marriage together.

"Like [Peter] and Cynthia, we don’t know what goes on behind closed doors but as far as what you see, they're supportive. She supports [Peter's business] Bar One, it’s become a brand name. The same thing with The Bailey Agency, they carry both hand in hand. It’s unity," he tells Straight from the A.

With Peter and Cynthia serving as the go-to couple for Apollo, he further addresses how he deals with all the public speculation about his relationship with Phaedra, especially after pleading guilty to fraud charges. (He'll be sentenced in July).

"They say all publicity is good publicity, but we're human too!" he says. "It’s like, I try to act like it doesn’t exist, but then I read something and I’m like ‘How can you think like that’… If I was a deadbeat, if I was no good, just a jailbird, whatever, you’re talking about an educated woman with many many accolades under her belt. You don’t think with all of that, that she can pick a man? Let’s think about that. People don’t think about that part. There’s something that I had to offer."

"I admire Peter," he continues. "He told me a long time ago that hindsight is 20/20. Don’t be that person that says ‘I already know’…. you thought you knew, but there could be another way. He gave me some advice and he was like ‘Look, you need to figure this thing out and ride it out.'"

So, how is he dealing with his own legal dramas? He explains, "I try to stay focused on a higher power and know that there is a God, and know that something else is guiding me. Psychologically they say that your upbringing will make you who you are, but why can’t I pull out the positive out it."