ATLANTA, GEORGIA: In the upcoming episode of 'The Real Housewives of Atlanta,' Marlo Hampton will organize an event to recognize people who have gone through the foster care system. She has already spoken up about her upbringing in the foster care system.
Marlo is a force to be reckoned with! Marlo began Foster Care Fridays in order to raise awareness of the foster care organization. Her experience as a foster child provided her with a unique insight into the system, which has evolved into a rewarding organization that assists deserving children and collaborates with other organizations.
So, what prompted Marlo's commitment to the foster care system?
Why was Marlo Hampton put into foster care?
"My foundation, Glam It Up, started off [in] 2011 as an initiative," Marlo said in an episode interview. "It got big — it got so successful, and we kept having events. I'm like, 'Hey, we gonna make this a nonprofit. We're gonna make this big and this is something I'm gonna do for the rest of my life.'"
During a 2022 episode, Marlo spoke at The Ultimate Women's Expo in Atlanta about her life and what inspired her to launch the foundation. "I was raised by my biological mother who struggled from substance abuse, so I got introduced to the foster care system," she explained.
"I was in and out of five different foster homes. I was mad at the world. You know, I just didn't believe I ever had real love or somewhere where I could call home. I want people to just know, you're not alone. I went through it, and I made it."
Marlo continued, "My main purpose is to let them know: Just because you're in foster care, does not mean you're not worthy. If you dream it, you can achieve it."
Marlo was in five separate foster homes until she aged out of the system at the age of 18. She moved out of several of the houses, including the first one she shared with a Jamaican family she met at church.
"He was abusive," Hampton explained. "So I called a social worker, and she put me in a temporary center."
Marlo was evicted from other residences. When one foster mother in St Petersburg, Florida, discovered Marlo had been telling neighbors about how strict she was, she kicked her out.
Another foster guardian in St Petersburg, a schoolteacher, appeared like the ideal fit until the foster mom's biological daughter began to feel neglected, according to Marlo.
"After that, I was just mad at the world," Marlo said. "That's when I just got into a lot of trouble, and I just figured this out on my own."
Who is Marlo Hampton's mother?
During season 12 of Bravo's reality program, the reality star had an explosive encounter with her biological mother Emma, who came together for the first time in three years to confront their shattered relationship, which Emma said was created in part by her battles with drug misuse.
The two appeared to be in a good position at the end of the season finale. However, Marlo acknowledged in Part 1 of the 'RHOA' reunion that Emma "went back to her same old ways" after the cameras were switched off, and she returned to her home in West Memphis, Arkansas.
She stopped checking in on Marlo, as well as her grandchildren Michael and William, whom Marlo took in during a period of family strife, according to the Atlanta Housewife. "I hate to talk about it because her childhood was rough," Marlo said of her mother to Andy Cohen.
"My grandmother didn't know how to be a mom, so my mom went through a lot. But I want my mom sometimes. I want her when I have a bad day. When the girls make me mad, I would love to go talk to my mom."
"I just feel like I'm so by myself," Marlo continued. "I just need her. Every girl needs her mom or dad, and I don't think my mom gets it. She doesn't get it."
According to the founder of the Le' Archive, she abandoned her family at the age of ten after her mother "beat me so bad."
"I went in the bathroom and I bathed my little brother and I told him, 'I'll be back,'" Marlo said.
"And he was even mad with me for years because he felt I never came back for him, but I was 10. I knew I was just tired of being beat."
Check out Marlo's latest event on the upcoming episode of 'The Real Housewives of Atlanta' Season 15 airing on August 13, 2023, on Bravo at 8 pm ET.
