Cynthia Bailey maintains her proudest moment on The Real Housewives of Atlanta is her daughter Noelle Robinson coming out as sexually fluid. Viewers remember the touching moment of Bailey picking up Robinson from the airport for Robinson’s return home for a school break. At the time, Robinson was pursuing a degree at Howard University.

The mother and daughter duo sparked up a conversation about Robinson’s dating life. Robinson revealed she was interested in both men and women, preferring to not be categorized as lesbian or bisexual. 

“People try to box everyone in and put labels on everything, but I don’t really do that,” she told Bailey at the time in a 2019 episode. “I just like who I like, and that’s just what it is. There’s a lot of attractive guys, and there’s a lot of attractive girls.”

Bailey told Shadow and Act in a December 2020 interview:

“It was the best thing for her to do it on television,” Bailey says of Noelle’s coming out moment. “She could have been on campus, walking across the campus on a girl’s hand and someone snaps a picture and send it to a blog and that’s how the world finds out. It almost looks like we’re hiding it. I’m proud of her for doing what she did and she’s flourished since.” She’s just a good kid and I’m excited for what’s to come for Noelle.

Robinson documented her relationship with her ex-girlfriend Alexis Powell on her popular YouTube channel. Powell even lived with Bailey and Robinson for several months during the 2020 COVID-19 quarantine. The two split not too long ago. 

Both Bailey and Robinson were met with millions of supporters. Fans saluted Bailey for her love and acceptance of Robinson, while Robinson was praised for her truth and bravery. Looking back, Robinson says it was all worth it, though she was initially hesitant to reveal her sexuality on such a public platform. 

“It definitely was [a hard decision] and I was really kind of not sure what type of response I was going to get,” Robinson told Andy Cohen during the May 9 episode of Watch What Happens Live that focuses on kids of the Bravolebrities. “But when I got an overwhelming amount of positive response [from fans], I was so happy that I did it. I really did inspire other people that were kind of like, going through the same realizations that I was at the time. So I’m definitely happy I did it.”