Gregg Leakes, the longtime husband of former “Real Housewives of Atlanta” cast member NeNe Leakes, passed away on Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2021. He was 66.
The Leakes patriarch has succumbed to the colon cancer that he’d been fighting for several years. The family publicist and longtime friend, Ernest Dukes, confirmed that the husband died “peacefully”.
“Today the Leakes family is in deep pain with a broken heart. After a long battle with cancer, Gregg Leakes has passed away peacefully in his home surrounded by all of his children, very close loved ones and wife Nene Leakes. We ask that you pray for peace and strength over their family & allow them to mourn in private during this very very difficult time,” said Dukes.
Former businessman Gregg Leakes was a popular and frequent visitor on “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” for the majority of his wife’s reign over the ratings-busting show for Bravo TV. The couple were married in 1997 and got publicly divorced in 2011 before remarrying in 2013. They share one son, Brentt Leakes, who is now 22.
He was originally diagnosed with colon cancer in 2018, but he defeated the first iteration of the disease.
Leakes’ cancer had been in remission for two years. But NeNe Leakes announced on her Instagram page that the medical malady had returned, forcing Gregg Leakes to undergo surgery again in June 2021.
“It’s difficult,” NeNe Leakes told her nearly four million followers on IG live at that time. “He’s super small. If you’ve ever been around somebody who’s had cancer before, he’s different. He’s different.”
