After a short lived stint on RHOA, Claudia Jordan shows there’s more to offer on The Next 15
Actress, model, radio and TV personality Claudia Jordan has decided to finish her untold story on TV One’s latest reality show, The Next 15. After her short stint on The Real Housewives of Atlanta, Claudia felt as though she was robbed of her opportunity to show who she really was. The entrepreneur has many different ventures she is working on as well as adding the title of producer to her resume. In her interview with Parlé Magazine, Claudia tells us about her life after The Housewives of Atlanta, what she has planned coming out soon and how she really feels about haters on social media.
Parlé Magazine: Reality TV is not your bread and butter, but tell us, what made you choose to do The Next 15?
Claudia Jordan: I felt like my story was incomplete on Housewives of Atlanta. I felt like, “damn it’s over already and I didn’t get a chance to show the real me.” They pressed me for the longest to do my standup comedy routine, and it was never even shown. I was bummed because the viewers only got to see a small representation, so I wanted to pick up where I left off and finish the story.
Parlé Mag: Looking back at your reality televisioin career, what do you regret most?
Claudia Jordan: Sometimes in interviews, you have to hit certain beats, and you may believe in it that much, but you do it because it’s a television show. People tend to crucify you because they forget this is a television show, and the people they see are supposed to have a particular flare and fire about them. There will be a little trash talking and shade throwing. Some of the shade throwing, I didn’t think was necessary. As a reality newbie on Housewives of Atlanta, I didn’t know that you could say no or I’m not doing that. I’m used to working on television sets where you are hosting, and you have to be live and a script is a script. On The Next 15, you can see me giving a little push back saying “I’m not feeling that.” I sometimes regret showing my feet. So many people have corns and to this day that is all I hear about. I’m like can we move on from that. I was showing that I’m not perfect, and I have vulnerabilities. It was something that people can relate to. Plus, I thought I was going to get the surgery, so I didn’t care at the time, but now I’m not. I enjoy hearing people say oh you related to me by showing your feet because it’s real. On another note, everybody on Instagram with a private page and two followers have perfect feet, they are very rich, have good credit, have great boyfriends, don’t have stretch marks, have excellent noses and great hair. According to them, they are all so much better than I am in all areas of life. You get this criticism from people on Instagram, who wouldn’t even dare reveal an inch of their real lives and we are putting it all on the table!
Parlé Mag: We’re a few weeks in now, but what can viewers who haven’t watched yet expect from Claudia on this new show?
Claudia Jordan: You will see me being more involved and see more of my story, which you didn’t see a lot of on Real Housewives. I came in towards the end by the time they made me a housewife. You will see more of my business side, my abilities as a host and producer. You will see me once again trying to bring the peace and get everyone on the same page which seems to be like an ongoing thing for me. I end up in situations where I try to make peace out of chaos.
Parlé Mag: Prior to The Next 15 you’ve been somewhat quiet, what have you been up to?
Claudia Jordan: I have been really busy getting all of my ventures off the ground. When I see these little things on Twitter and Instagram, and my cast mates want to be messy I don’t have time. I don’t do the Twitter fingers thing. I’m 42-years-old, and I’m college educated. I don’t need to just be on reality television. It’s one more line on my resume. It didn’t make me. A man doesn’t make me. Being tied to another reality show character didn’t make me. I made myself. I do not want to encourage that nonsense. It is so hard sometimes to ignore it. We have egos and pride that make you want to clap back, but there are a lot of little girls who are watching us. At some points, you have to take accountability and responsibility. You may not want to be a “role model”, but if we aren’t the role models, the ones on the poles and wilding out are. As long as I have breath and a heartbeat, I will try to do my best to put a cool image out there. The ratchets might call me lame and boring, but I don’t give a shit. I’m not here for them. I’m here for my educated folks who want to do better. I constantly see little things, and it makes me think that person doesn’t have any confidence. They aren’t clever, compelling and interesting enough to get attention on their own, so they have to go that route.
Parlé Mag: What other ventures do you currently have going on?
Claudia Jordan: I have gotten my businesses off the ground. I have a drink line. It is kind of like CapriSuns for adults. It is in the same type of packaging. You can take them with you. They are mixed drinks, and we have so many flavors. They are called Shot Pak. Then I have a bag line. If you go to claudiajordan.com, you can find those there. It is all fine Italian leather, and we launched a few weeks ago. Everything is made in Italy. My team and I have been working on the bag line for many years, and I am extremely proud of it. I also have a lip-gloss line, the Claudia Jordan collection. We currently have five matte colors and we will be introducing three more.
Parlé Mag: What about any upcoming roles in tv or film?
Claudia Jordan: I have been acting more. I worked on a sitcom called In The Cut with by Kyle Bentley Evans, who was the executive producer of shows and movies like Martin, The Jamie Foxx Show, and A Thin Line between Love and Hate. I have another sitcom I that I’m one of the producers on called My Better Half. We have an excellent cast, and we are starting production soon.
Parlé Mag: Coming from the pageant world, what are your thoughts on the overall experience and its relevance to society today?
Claudia Jordan: It is relevant, but I will say being in the pageants didn’t open a lot of doors for me. It gave me a little more confidence being a small town girl who left and went to the big city. You aren’t getting jobs and bookings because you were Ms. Something. You honestly just get attention. I will say the pageants now have stepped the game up. They are much more glamorous. I wish I were doing them now as opposed to back then. I didn’t use fake hair or stuff my bra, nothing. There are so many tricks to the game now; I wish I knew about them then.
Catch Claudia Jordan and the rest of the cast of The Next 15 on TV One, Wednesdays at 9 p.m.
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