'RHOA' star Marlo Hampton reveals how parenting her 2 young nephews has changed the way she reacts to altercations on the show

• "Real Housewives of Atlanta" star Marlo Hampton has been raising her two nephews for two years.
• She said they have changed the way she wants to present herself on the show.

Marlo Hampton said she thinks before she acts on "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" now thanks to her two nephews.

The reality star and Le' Archive showroom owner became a full-time "muntie" (a combination of "mom" and "auntie") when she brought Michael, 14 and William, 13 to live with her two years ago. She has physical custody over the children while their mother, her sister, deals with legal issues.

"Being a muntie is amazing. It has its ups and its downs, but I think I love having someone. I love having two people who I have to take care of," she told Insider. "It's just knowing that someone loves you, they depend on you. And a lot of my decisions I make, I put them first now."

She offered an example of how they have impacted her behavior on screen. "When I'm with the girls, I'm like, 'Oh, I would probably pop Kenya right in her lip,'" she said, referring to her costar Kenya Moore. "It's like, 'Nah uh uh you got Michael and William. Can't pop her in her lip.' But they just make you think before you react on a lot of things."

At one point during the interview, Hampton paused to check a text from Michael, who was submitting his Instacart order of "Sun Chips, plastic cups, some spinach and salmon" to her.

Hampton has to restrain more than her fists to care for him and his brother. "I just got to worry about my mouth now. I just say whatever I'm thinking," she told Insider. She described bracing them for encountering negative comments from others the way she often has to as a reality star.

"I let them know, in school people are evil, people will say mean things, people will make up things about you if they don't know of anything about you," Hampton recalled telling her nephews. "The most important thing is being true to yourself, loving you, and just being confident in who you are. And that's something I try and instill in them."

"Because no matter what you do, what you wear, where you eat, people are going to have something to say," she added. "So in this world of social media, you just have to be true to who you are."

"The Real Housewives of Atlanta" airs Sundays on Bravo at 8 p.m. ET.