At age 17, Zolciak had an affair with a Windsor Locks police sergeant who had interviewed her as a material witness in a Criminal investigation, initially resulting in the officer's firing. The termination was later changed to a 45-day suspension without pay. She graduated from East Catholic High School in Manchester, Connecticut in 1996, and studied nursing at the University of Connecticut. At 21, she moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where her parents had moved, and eventually settled in the suburb of Johns Creek.