Cynthia Bailey is used to having her appearance scrutinized. She started her modeling career at 18. But today, her priorities are different. “At 58, my biggest concern right now is aging gracefully, intentionally embracing the process,” the reality star and actress says. “Every ten years I have to step it up a bit because the 40s ain’t the 50s, and the 50s ain’t the 60s. My health has become a priority.”
We Grew Our Own Food
Before she began her modeling career, Cynthia recalled a childhood in Alabama where they rarely ate out, if at all. My mom, my grandmother, everybody cooked,” she explained.
“I came from a family where we grew a lot of our own food. We didn’t eat a lot of fast food. We didn’t know we were eating healthy; we ate what was prepared for us.”
My Grandmother Was The Doctor
The first time the RHOA reality star was ever a patient in a hospital was when she gave birth to her daughter, Noelle Robinson. “Growing up in the South, they [our elders] introduced us to preventative medicine,” she noted.
“I remember that they would make us all kinds of home remedies that you would have to eat or drink. And Vicks was the all-purpose remedy for almost everything. But I didn’t get sick,” she continued.
My grandmother was the doctor. Maybe if you broke a bone, you’d have to go to the hospital to see someone else.”
Cynthia has started to look at some of the things her grandmother and mother used, like garlic, and incorporated them back into her lifestyle today.
We are excited to welcome her back as a cohost at the BHM Harlem Week 2025 Health Summit & Expo. August 14, 2025, at Riverside Church in New York City.
I Got Intentional About My Weight Management
Cynthia had always been thin, but menopause has a way of changing our bodies. “At 58, your metabolism is slow. You breathe air, you gain weight,” she joked. However, it can be frustrating when things that previously worked for weight loss no longer provide the desired positive outcome.
She tried intermittent fasting and a few other methods before deciding to sign up for Weight Watchers. “I tried all these other things, but I decided on Weight Watchers because I needed a game plan,” she said.
Her schedule keeps her on the road between Atlanta, Los Angeles, and New York City, with considerable time spent in hotels where there aren’t stoves.
“I also needed to have a different conversation with food. Which foods work for me, which don’t? With Weight Watchers, I don’t feel like I’m on a diet, I’m on a food management plan. I can eat pretty much what I want.”
For her, that could mean having a burger with the bottom half of the bun, or a lettuce wrap. She looks at food differently.
Cynthia went in with a very ambitious goal: to lose 50 pounds in three months. Instead, she lost 25 pounds, a significant accomplishment. She is now working on the next 25.
“I don’t have the type of job where anyone can afford to stop production because I don’t feel well,” she explained.
Podcast as Talk Therapy
One of the reasons Cynthia lives on Delta Airlines is that she flies to the Los Angeles area often to film episodes of her podcast Humble Brag, wth Crystal and Cynthia. Yes, a former RHOBH with a RHOA sounds strange. But this unlikely pairing works. Their podcast launched last October, so they are close to their first anniversary.
“One of the things I am trying to do these days is operate from a place of peace 99% of the time because stress is real,” Cynthia pointed out.
“My podcast Humble Brag with Crystal Kung Minkoff has become like my two-hour therapy session. Just sitting and talking. It’s the therapy I didn’t know I needed.”
Getting to Glowissima
As she prioritizes her health, Cynthia is also putting her skin in the forefront. For years, women have been asking her what she has used on it to keep it so radiant.
Recently, with her cofounder, Dana Hill-Robinson, they launched Glowissima Skincare. “Dana and I have known each other for over 35 years and always talked about doing something together, but the timing wasn’t right, she said.
“But two years ago, everything fell into place and we started working on the line.” The clean skincare line has two hero products: Miracle Elixir Facial Oil and Ultimate Radiance Facial Cream. The products are infused with botanical ingredients from New Zealand, including manuka honey and kiwi seed oil. As well as other yummy ingredients like kakuda plum, seabuckthorn oil, and marula oil, which heal, protect, hydrate skin, and reduce hyperpigmentation.
Cynthia says, “Think of the products like boyfriend and girlfriend—the oil seals in the moisturizer. But the oil can also be used as a spot treatment. They are good together or used separately.”
In the few short months the products have been out, it has already won the Gurus of Beauty Award for Breakthrough Skincare Brand and Best Facial Oil from Pop Sugar.
Don’t forget to join Cynthia as she cohosts the BHM Harlem Week 2025 Health Summit & Expo. You can come in-person or tune in virtually. Click here for registration.
