Credit: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency / MEGA
Real Housewives of Atlanta star Shamea Morton is taking legal action over a chemical peel gone wrong.
This comes as Shamea will return to RHOA for its upcoming 17th season. Filming wrapped for the show in early November 2025. This will be her second season as a full-time Housewife.
According to US Weekly, the RHOA star and her husband, Gerald Mwangi, filed the malpractice lawsuit against Jing Jing Wong Harris, M.D, her company, which is Pretty Faces Atlanta, and other defendants on October 31. The suit accuses the doctor of “negligently burning” Shamea’s face and causing permanent scarring.
In the filing, Shamea claims she should have never “undergone a chemical peel due to her diagnosis of Tinea Versicolor, which is a fungal condition.” Instead, she believes the proper measure would have been for them to refer her to a dermatologist.
Additionally, she states in the lawsuit that the procedure was “completely inappropriate” as a result of her “African American skin, even if she had simple hyperpigmentation, especially due to the lack of any skin prep and attempt at pigment correction with medical-grade skincare and much less aggressive treatments than what was performed.”
Regarding the third-party defendants, she accuses one of them of a chemical peel that was too strong for her back and arms, and that the person performed it without the doctor’s supervision. Per the filing, this resulted in “second degree burns, blistering, and permanent scarring.” The lawsuit includes images of the scarring Shamea says she suffered from the chemical peel.
The mom of two says she “cried in pain due to sensations she was experiencing.” The suit continues, “[Morton’s] screams were so loud that [Harris], for the first time that day, entered the room where the procedure was being performed and inquired as to what was going on.”
It then says, “When [Morton] reported intense pain to [Harris], [Harris] told her that she was being dramatic.” The situation at the office continued, and “only after seeing the tears from [Morton] crying, [Harris] applied an unknown solution from a spray bottle to [Morton’s] back. Harris never consulted, examined, or approved the treatment plan for [Morton] prior to the application of the chemical peel.”
Shamea is requesting unspecified damages. Her lawyer, Darren M. Tobin, told US Weekly, “What happened to Shamea when she was burned is unacceptable and inexcusable. We intend on pursuing full justice allowed under the law.”