Kenya Moore Exits Real Housewives of Atlanta Season 16 After Suspension for Explicit Photos Scandal

Kenya Moore is leaving The Real Housewives of Atlanta.

PEOPLE can confirm that Moore won't be returning to the series. Cast members were told the news on Tuesday, June 25.

It’s a decision that sources close to production tell PEOPLE came from the network — though TMZ, who was first to report the news, said Moore mutually agreed to take a break from the series. The outlet's insiders also claim that Moore is exploring her legal options “because she's not happy with how this whole mess unfolded.”

A rep for Moore and a rep for Bravo did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment, but the former Miss USA appeared to address the news on X (formerly known as Twitter).

“#TEAMTWIRLFOREVER You are the best fans anyone could ever ask for. and I love you all so very much,” she wrote. “Always and forever.”

News of the reality star's unceremonious exit from RHOA comes after she was suspended indefinitely from filming for allegedly unveiling explicit pictures of new cast member Brittany Eady.

The pictures — which sources previously told PEOPLE that were shown while the Bravo cameras were rolling on Thursday, June 6 at the grand opening of her new Kenya Moore Hair Spa — showed Eady performing oral sex on an unnamed male. Eady was not in attendance at the spa when the snapshots were revealed.

At the time, an insider told PEOPLE that Moore was retaliating after Eady allegedly threatened her costar using the word “gun." However, a second source close to production disputed that, saying, “At no time was Kenya ever threatened with a weapon, nor was there ever a weapon present during the course of production."

An investigation was launched by Bravo to look into the incident. The results, sources say, are what led to Moore's exit.

But an insider insists to PEOPLE on Tuesday, June 25 that the threat was real. "Kenya was concerned for her safety, that is the truth," the source says. "Never for one second did Kenya feel like she was being taken seriously for her fears. It's unfair."

Moore joined RHOA in its fifth season. She was a mainstay Housewife on the show except for season 11, when she was pregnant with her 5-year-old daughter, Brooklyn.

She exits RHOA as the franchise's longest-running peach-holder. The show has recently faced a long production gap and major casting shakeup saw the exits of other mainstay cast members including Kandi Burruss,  Shereé Whitfield, Marlo Hampton and Sanya Richards-Ross.

Porsha Williams, one of Moore's longtime frienemies, returned to the series this year. Fans were looking forward to see where the two landed with one another.

Aside from Eady, the rest of the cast was filled out with restaurateur and Food Network alum Kelli Ferrell, and Angela Oakley, wife of NBA great Charles Oakley. Shamea Morton Mwangi, who has appeared on the show in a guest and friend role dating back to season 5, has been upgraded to a full-time Housewife.

In a Friend role will be a familiar face to the franchise: supermodel Cynthia Bailey, who was a Housewife from season 3-13, and led the initial cast of Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip.

Moore had yet to address her exit but in an Instagram Live on June 14, she told her followers, “You will be seeing me. I’m not going anywhere despite all this stuff.”

She also defended herself from claims that what she did allegedly did to Eady was "revenge porn," wiring on X (formerly known as Twitter) on June 8: “I would never engage in revenge porn, I have never distributed private images or footage of anyone, nor solicited images owned by others to use to threaten or blackmail."

The Real Housewives of Atlanta can be streamed on Peacock.