Cynthia Bailey's Favorite Real Housewives Moments - Exclusive

Being on any of the "Real Housewives" shows is definitely not for everyone. You need a pretty thick skin to handle the relentless on-air drama — no matter how carefully you tread, at some point you're going to end up in someone's crosshairs, and the fallout will be broadcast for anyone with a TV to see. Then there's the merciless public scrutiny: Having every detail of your personal life gossiped about and judged by random strangers can be beyond uncomfortable. Sure, the food, fashion, and fabulous settings would be fun to experience, but the rest of it? Ask most women if they'd be up for it, and chances are, they'd give it a hard pass.

But for the right kind of woman — someone with boatloads of self-confidence who treats their life like an open book — a stint on "Real Housewives" could be not only an adventure, but a prime opportunity for professional development. After some initial hesitation, Cynthia Bailey signed on to "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" because she realized the show would be a great platform for building her personal brand and promoting her businesses. And it was. But even more significantly, it was the platform on which she got to experience –- and share –- some of the most personally meaningful moments of her life. In this exclusive interview with The List, Bailey shares a few of the moments from RHOA that meant to most to her.

Cynthia Bailey soon came to realize that being on RHOA meant that not only was her life being examined in microscopic detail, so were the lives of those close to her. Her daughter, Noelle, also appeared on the show, and in one of the show's most memorable moments for Bailey, came out to her as fluid. "That was a really important conversation for us," Bailey said. "And it really affected a lot of the fans that watched the show because there's so many parents who have children that are fluid, so that was a big moment to share that conversation on the show."

It was also an empowering moment for both of them, since it offered Noelle the opportunity to take control of her own story. "I thought it was important for her to create her own narrative in terms of how she wanted to put that information out there," Bailey said. "You know, as a reality star, we don't have a lot of privacy, even our children. So if she is living a certain lifestyle off the show and you know, the world, like the blogs and all of the other media outlets are privy to that, it almost feels like we're hiding something from show. So it's always just really good as a reality star to just put it on the show, just be transparent. And that way you can tell your own story."

During her stint on RHOA, Cynthia Bailey had to deal with a seriously unglamorous challenge — painful uterine fibroids and uterine fibroid embolization, a surgical procedure to remove them. It wasn't fun — far from it — but it was an opportunity to use the show to advocate for other women suffering from fibroids. "And that was an important moment because so many women suffer from fibroids and at the time the producers weren't really sure if this was something people really cared about," Bailey said. "And now I cannot tell you how many women have come up to me and thanked me for sharing that moment on the show, because a lot of women didn't really talk about that."

Since then, she has continued her efforts to educate women about uterine fibroids and how to treat them. "Not only do I talk about it, I continue to talk about it. I talked about it then, I brought it to the forefront and I am still having those conversations with an organization called Fibroids USA, where I still make sure that I have a platform to continue to encourage women who are suffering with fibroids to know their options and get the help that they need to really honestly get their life back.

"The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip" is available to stream now on Peacock.