The Untold Truth Of Noelle Robinson
Noelle Robinson may have gotten her first taste of fame thanks to her mom, Cynthia Bailey, when she appeared alongside her on numerous episodes of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, but now she's working hard to join the entertainment industry in her own right. The daughter of Bailey and actor Leon Robinson, who got his start in the '80s and is still working full-time, Noelle Robinson has the right genes for showbiz and, as of this writing, she's sure trying to capitalize on them.
Describing herself as a "travel + digital creator" in her Instagram bio, Robinson has already signed with Major Models NYC, is building her social media following on platforms like YouTube and TikTok, and is also trying her hand at acting. But despite sharing content online nearly every day, Robinson has managed to keep much of her personal life under wraps. Unlike other starlets her age who come from reality TV families and have famous parents, she hasn't made any scandalous headlines, but that doesn't mean there isn't a whole lot going on in her life behind the scenes. This is the untold truth of Noelle Robinson.
Noelle Robinson has trust issues because of her parents' fame
Being famous ain't easy! While having celeb parents may have helped reality TV starlet Noelle Robinson launch her career as a model and social media personality, it's also prevented her from making true, lasting friendships.
As Robinson revealed during a March 2020 YouTube Q&A, she has trouble trusting people. "I've had friends in the past that have treated me different or just kind of moved funny," she explained, adding that, over the years, she's had to learn how to recognize fakers. "It just kinda took me growing up and just figuring out, like, 'Okay, this is kinda weird,'" Robinson continued. "'I should not really be hanging around this person as much if I see that they're only bringing up my parents 24/7.'"
Admitting to having "experiences with people trying to send stuff to blogs," which had made her "very cautious," Robinson said that making friends can be difficult due to her setting up boundaries and keeping an eye out for any red flags. "I'd rather just stick with the people that I know are loyal," she added, which explains why most of the former college student's pals aren't new additions to her life, but rather folks she's known since middle school. "My circle is full of people that treat me the exact same [way] that they would treat anybody else," she concluded to her fans. "Those are the types of people that I want around me."
Noelle Robinson experienced love at first sight
When Noelle Robinson came out as sexually fluid during a 2019 episode of RHOA, she told her mom that she first discovered her attraction to women during her freshman year at Howard University. "It really just came out of nowhere," she revealed at the time. But we now the origins of her latest relationship.
Robinson met her now-girlfriend, YouTuber Alexis Powell, at school, and to hear her tell it, it was pretty much love at first sight. During a March 2020 YouTube Q&A, Robinson recalled, "I think I actually met her maybe the third day of school?" She had spotted Powell filming a YouTube survey on campus and knew she had to talk to her. "Literally, I came up to her out of nowhere," she continued, adding, "I told my friend, I was like, 'Come on, you gotta come over here with me and do this survey,' cause I just wanted to talk to her [and] see what she was about." With their meet-cute adorably captured on tape, Robinson continued, "We literally was walking and talking from there ... we just hung out the whole day after that."
Robinson previously teased this romance on Instagram with a photo of herself holding a huge bouquet of black-and-white roses, which she captioned, "Wow okay [I'm] in love." When asked for clarification on who she was dating, Robinson took to Instagram Stories days before the Q&A, pointed at Powell, and simply said (via The Daily Dish), "Her."
Noelle Robinson dropped out of college after feeling emotionally drained
In July 2019, Noelle Robinson admitted to The Daily Dish that, after two semesters at Howard University, "I'm trying to figure out if I want to stick to my major in Bio or if I want to switch to acting." She eventually decided on the latter and the RHOA star dropped out of school.
Explaining her decision during a YouTube Q&A in March 2020, Robinson reasoned, "My mom didn't go to college, and my dad didn't go to college either, and they're very successful." She went on to break down what went wrong, admitting to feeling overly stressed and "emotionally drained" due to "poor time management," an ongoing struggle to handle social situations due to her Bravo fame, and not feeling "passionate" about her studies.
When asked to share her best and worst memories from college, Robinson struggled to come up with anything happy, eventually confessing, "I don't have a best moment, per se. I honestly don't. I really did not like college, guys ... I just had moments when I was not having a bad moment, if that makes sense." Justifying her struggles further, she added, "Keep in mind, guys, I was homeschooled for the last two years of high school, and I took a gap year, so I was not ready for college at all. From a social standpoint, [an] academic standpoint, I just kinda got the carpet ripped from underneath me."
Noelle Robinson moved in with her mom's fiancé ... before her mom did
Once she made the decision to drop out of university to focus on her acting career, it was time for Noelle Robinson to pack her bags and move to L.A. Rather than searching for her own place, however, she decided to move in with her mom's fiancé, Mike Hill ... even though her mom wasn't living with him.
Hill was the one who broke the news on the It's Bravo Betch podcast in September 2019. "Noelle's living with me right now ... She's pursuing her goals of acting ... she's a superstar," he gushed, before adding: "I have three daughters: Two biological daughters and my bonus daughter in Noelle."
When the news raised a few eyebrows, mom Cynthia Bailey was quick to point out that there was nothing strange about their arrangement. "One of the things that a lot of people don't realize is Mike's other daughter's Kayla's in L.A. as well," she told The Daily Dish. "So it's not just Mike and Noelle, it's really the three of them." As for Hill, he added that they barely even see each other. "Noelle's busy doing her thing and I got a lot — about six or seven jobs — so really it's almost like she'll go to her room and I'll see her in the common areas every now and then." He went on to joke, "I think I've seen Noelle maybe like 10 minutes per day. If that."
Noelle Robinson doesn't care about her future stepdad's shady past
After Cynthia Bailey and Mike Hill got engaged in July 2019, the couple didn't shy away from addressing Hill's cheating past on a February 2020 episode of RHOA. Ahead of the episode airing, Bailey explained why she didn't take issue with Hill's repeated infidelities, reasoning with The Daily Dish, "When it comes to Mike's past, his past has nothing to do with me. I'm only looking toward my future with this man and I love the person that he is today." She added, "I'm looking forward. I'm not ever looking backward."
That philosophy of not dwelling on the past is one she's imparted on her daughter. During an April 2020 appearance on Watch What Happens Live, Bailey was asked how Robinson feels about her future stepdad's transgressions and, as the RHOA star told Andy Cohen, "Noelle just wants me to be good and she really likes Mike ... I think Noelle would really only judge him on what he's doing with me and not what he's done in the past."
Meanwhile, Robinson herself told The Daily Dish, "I love Mike. We have such a great relationship and it happened completely organically. We have gotten super close." She added, "I really love how happy my mom is since she's been with him. I'm just really blessed that he came into our lives."
Sorry, Atlanta — Noelle Robinson is all about California these days
While Cynthia Bailey may forever be associated with Atlanta thanks to her role on RHOA, Noelle Robinson has her sights set on becoming the face of another city: Los Angeles. Despite going to school and growing up on-and-off screen in ATL (she received her high school diploma from Georgia Cyber Academy in June 2017), Robinson seems to have forgotten about her ties to Georgia and is all about the West Coast these days.
The budding starlet made her preference abundantly clear while answering fan questions on YouTube in March 2020, when someone asked her to choose between the two. Wasting no time, she proclaimed, "I grew up in Atlanta, so sorry to Atlanta, but it's no question: It's definitely California!" Explaining what makes L.A. so special to her, she added, "Ever since I came out here, I've been so much happier, I just feel better, I'm getting so much more done, [and] it's better for my career path."
And the gushing didn't stop there, as Robinson went on to proclaim, "I love California! I need the sun. I need these vibes. I need this healthy eating. I need everything that comes with California." Feeling as though she already "did everything [she] was gonna do [in Atlanta]," Robinson concluded, "I just felt like I outgrew it."
Leon Robinson is one of three father figures in Noelle's life
In addition to her biological dad, actor Leon Robinson, Noelle Robinson has two other father figures in her life: future stepdad Mike Hill and her mom's ex-husband, Peter Thomas.
As it turns out, Leon and Hill actually met long before they shared a blended family. "I knew Leon before I knew Cynthia," Hill told The Daily Dish, before assuring, "It wasn't like I was breaking the bro code or anything like that." He added, "He's been so supportive and so loving and caring. He'll reach out and when we're in New York, he wants to hang out with all of us." It's no surprise, then, that both men were on-hand to celebrate their daughter's 20th birthday in September 2019. They even posed for a family snap together, which Hill captioned, "Family is family! Love should be extended to whoever you love loves!"
And while Leon "makes sure that his place is known and then he goes accordingly," as Noelle told The Daily Dish, she loves Hill and even keeps in touch with former stepdad Thomas: "So, it's like I literally have a dad and two bonus dads now." On having three loving father figures, Noelle added, "It's honestly really great. I don't think I would be the person that I am without it."
Yes, those are diamonds in Noelle Robinson's teeth
While Invisalign boasts "predictable results backed by 8 million smiles," Noelle Robinson hasn't been one of those happy 8 million customers — yet. It hasn't been for lack of trying, though. As she admitted on YouTube, as of March 2020 she was on her fourth round of Invisalign, saying, "Because I just wasn't responsible and I wasn't wearing them as I should ... I have them now because I'm doing some final adjustments on my teeth, but I'm already seeing a lot of improvement. I shouldn't need it for much longer!"
While showing off her bright, white smile, Robinson also revealed something much more shocking than her invisible braces alternative: her diamond grill. Explaining that she's had them for nearly three years, she told viewers, "It is permanent ... I got it done in Atlanta." While showing off her blingy teeth, she added, "I'm probably not going to take it out unless I have to for acting or something else, but I don't plan on taking it out."
The impressive, extra shiny grill includes a single diamond placed into the middle of four bottom teeth and two completely bedazzled lower canines. Talk about a sparkling smile!
Noelle Robinson's not afraid to shade her mom's haters
Cynthia Bailey is no stranger to throwing shade (her feud with Real Housewives of Atlanta co-star NeNe Leakes has repeatedly made headlines and gotten increasingly confrontational over the years), and it seems that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. That's because Noelle Robinson can be just as fierce as her Bravo star mom, especially when she's defending her mother's honor.
In a March 2020 TikTok video, Robinson went after her mama bear's arch-rival, dressing up as Leakes to reenact a clip from the RHOA Season 11 reunion show, during which Leakes was called out by co-star Eva Marcille for being silent and, as she later said, "cold" to her castmates. Robinson's stepsister, Kayla Hill, played the part of Marcille in the video, which featured the girls lip syncing to the original audio from the reunion show, all while Robinson/Leakes went through a box of donuts. Harshest of all, however, was the clip's caption: "Me starting drama when it's that time of the month." Ouch.
Judging by Bailey and Marcille's comments, the duo found the recreation video to be hilarious. And luckily, as the proud mom reminded fans concerned over Leakes' potential reaction (via Page Six), "She has a great sense of humor trust me, she will find it funny."