NeNe Leakes’ unceremonious exit from “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” — the reality show she helped turn into must-see TV — has been shrouded in mystery.
However, thanks to her recent sit-down interviews with Tamron Hall and “Entertainment Tonight,” fans now have a better understanding of what really happened. Leakes said she reluctantly quit the flagship Bravo show after she felt insulted during contentious negotiations with boss Andy Cohen and others.
“They offered six episodes,” she said on the “Tamron Hall Show.”
“Basically, what happened is over the past four years I have felt very forced out. I have felt my role was being diminished. Every year, they would give me less and less and less episodes. And every year, people would say ‘Nene’s holding out…’ It wasn’t me that was holding out. I was just trying to understand why I was being given less and less and less every season from a show that I helped to become successful.”
Speaking to “Entertainment Tonight,” Leakes said, “I had an offer on the table. I did not think the offer was a fair offer.”
The mother of two sons and wife to Gregg Leakes said she was also hurt and insulted by Cohen. “Well, I thought that we had a relationship and a great relationship. But maybe we didn’t. I don’t know.”
This a softening of the rhetoric Leakes used Sept. 28 on Twitter to describe Cohen when she tweeted, in part: “No one knew you until YOU knew me. Remember I’m ICON. Don’t forget.”
Even Leakes’ husband Gregg entered the fray to stand up for his wife, whom he says has been through a whirlwind with the network in 2020.
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Flip the page to view Leakes’ discussion on the “Tamron Hall Show.”
