Real Housewives of Atlanta star Cynthia Bailey has revealed how she fears that she is getting too old to find love again.
According to the 56-year-old reality star, she feels pressured to rush back into dating following her second divorce.
The TV star was originally married to restaurateur Peter Thomas for seven years before finalizing their split in 2017. She then found love with sportscaster Mark Hill but, after tying the knot in 2020, the pair separated last year.
Now, Cynthia is now open to dating because she ‘doesn’t have a lot of time’ – but hopes that ‘the third time is a charm.’
Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com about her current relationship status, Cynthia said: ‘Well, for me, I definitely didn’t want to rush into anything. I definitely wanted to take the time to just really just sit with my divorce and new singleness and just be ready to start dating.
‘But the problem is I’m 56, so I don’t have a lot of time. I can’t sit around for a couple of years and have a hot girl summer at 60… I guess I could but that wouldn’t be my preference.’
Elaborating further, she revealed: ‘I kind of felt like, as in any breakup or divorce, a lot of times you start disconnecting and going through the breakup process before you actually break up. And that’s kind of what happened with me.
‘So, by the time it actually happened, I was kind of like, ‘Okay, let me not miss my person by not allowing myself to get back out there because of time.’
‘I put myself back out there slowly on a dating app. I got back on Raya, which I was on before, and everything’s been pretty slow and steady.
‘I’ve been on some really cool dates, and I’ve met some really cool people. I’m not in anything serious yet, but I like a couple of people. They have my interests for sure.’
Cynthia, who said she is looking for a man over 40, continued: ‘Hopefully, the third time is a charm for me. I don’t want to jump in until I’m sure.
‘I think one of the great things, if there’s a positive of going through two marriages and two divorces, is not only knowing what you want [but] knowing what I don’t want.
‘And again, being a woman of a certain age, I kind of have my deal breakers now and I only want to go into it if I really feel strongly that we have a very healthy shot at making this thing work.’
The TV star said the key to progressing a relationship with her is consistency, before adding: ‘I find sometimes the dating world has changed a lot for me because I am older. The younger dating world is different. They don’t really talk on the phone. It’s a lot of texting, not a lot of conversation and phone conversation.
‘I’m old school, you have to actually get on the phone with me and then we’re Face Timing. I need to see what we’re working with…
‘For me, if you’re interested, I need you to really just show up out the gate, really show that you’re interested and then be consistent.
‘If you come in strong and then you fall off, then that doesn’t work. You can’t start off calling me a couple of times a day and then I hear from you a couple times a week.’
She is hopeful of finding a partner that she can go travelling with – particularly with her dreams of visiting the Maldives.
Cynthia, who has a 23-year-old daughter, argued: ‘The Maldives is one of the top places on my list, but it’s just one of those places that I refuse to go.
‘First of all, I don’t want to go with girlfriends. It’s just too beautiful and quiet and sexy. I want to go with a man that I want to be with and that wants to be with me.
‘And it’s just because there’s nothing to do when you get there except just relax and enjoy the person that you’re with. So that is my dream place to go.
‘When I do meet my person, that’s the first place we’re going. He has to take me to the Maldives. So, I’m just going to go ahead and put that out there.’
