Drew Sidora got the right role at the right time when she was cast in Bounce TV’s hilarious new original series Mind Your Business.

In the half-hour sitcom, the actress and Real Housewives of Atlanta star plays Aaliyah, a divorcée who moves back home with her family in Chicago following her split to help keep their family business afloat.

It’s a character with a storyline that’s close to home for Sidora, who has spent more than a year in an ongoing divorce from her estranged husband Ralph Pittman. The former couple separated in February 2023 after eight years of marriage, each filing for divorce within an hour of one another the following month.

PHOTO: PARAS GRIFFIN/GETTY 

A resolution has yet to be met in the courts, with the two trading contentious filings in the months since. But Sidora tells PEOPLE that working on Mind Your Business has allowed her the space to heal from the some of the painful emotions tied to her own divorce.

“When I read the script, I was like, ‘Oh my God, she’s going through a divorce too…,’ ” Sidora, 39, recalls. “And that connection, for me, really grounded her because I knew exactly what she would be feeling; how I could shape her. But what I didn’t even think about is how she would help me.”

One scene in particular came into Sidora’s mind: a moment where Aaliyah had to open up to her close circle — including her twin brother (played by Scandal’s Columbus Short) — about seeing her ex-husband with a woman she assumed was his new love interest.

“I told them, ‘Okay, this is real for me, y’all,’ and they gave me that time to really bring that emotion to the forefront in that scene,” Sidora says. “And afterwards, my cast, they were hugging me. And then, Columbus told a joke and put me right back in laughter. And I really was thankful to them for that moment; to allow me to not only get that out but then to be able to support me and uplift me and bring me right back to a happy place.”

“That was so divine and spiritual for me,” she adds. “I’m like, ‘This is what I need right now in my life; to be able to cry if I need to cry and show the emotion, because it’s real. I have to sit in that, but then also get me to a place where I feel supported and loved right there after.’

Looking back on the timing, Sidora — who is mom to kids Josiah, 13, Machai, 9 and Aniya, 6 — calls it all “very profound.”

“It’s a bittersweet time for me right now, with a lot of great things happening, but then also that,” she says. “But I’m pushing through and I’m grateful for it. I’ve been healing through this character, for sure.”

And it’s not just the divorces the two have in common. Like Aaliyah, Sidora is also from Chicago and is also a singer (her new single, “I Got 5 on It,” is out now).

“I love her,” Sidora says. “She’s so much fun and colorful and funny. She likes to laugh, she’s silly, she’s goofy. She loves her family. She has a good head on her shoulders, and she’s really excited about this next chapter in life. I just see so much of myself in her. It was a no-brainer for me to join the cast on this one.”

Sidora also thinks it’ll be a no-brainer for fans to fall in love with Mind Your Business.

“It’s a very funny sitcom that we don’t really get anymore,” she says. “It’s nostalgic; puts you right back in that mindset of Martin, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The Jamie Foxx Show — all those great ‘90s comedies. And at this time in our society, we need laughs like that.”

“I’m just happy to be part of that wave and to come back to scripted TV, which has always been my first love,” she continues. “I didn’t want to get lost in the sauce with the reality and coming from Housewives, this is the polar opposite energy because it’s so supportive and funny and we’re all rooting and uplifting each other. To be able to do a comedy with such a great cast, and for it to be having the success that it’s having, I’m just feeling blessed. It felt like I was back home.”