In a candid conversation on Bethenny Frankel‘ podcast, Be a Good Person, former Real Housewives of Atlanta star NeNe Leakes opens up about her experiences on the Bravo reality series and the unfair treatment she says she faced due to her race.
Leakes spoke with Frankel, a former Real Housewives of New York City star, about the disparities she perceives in the way Bravo handles its cast member.
“This is where I think we get different treatment and there’s a difference in how we’re treated because there are so many girls doing things. You had [Real Housewives of New Jersey star] Teresa [Giudice] flipping a table, Teresa pushing Andy [Cohen] down, you had girls bussin’ glasses. You got people doing all kinds of stuff, but me grabbing the camera guy’s shirt they acted as if it was so freaking major,” NeNe explained.
During a 2019 RHOA episode, NeNe hosted a Bye Wig party where her fellow housewives had to come without wigs, hair extensions or weaves. At the event, Kandi Burruss and Porsha Williams took it upon themselves to go into NeNe’s closet against her wishes.
“Hell no,” NeNe yelled to Kandi after she asked to see her closet. “My closet is not together.”
Kandi explained during a confessional that NeNe always talked about her closet so she wanted to see it.
When the ladies went into NeNe’s closet anyway, a cameraman followed behind them, prompting NeNe to get upset. As the cameraman started walking towards the closet, NeNe ripped his shirt in an attempt to stop him.
NeNe told Bethenny that the camera guy involved in the incident was laughing and never raised any concerns about it, leading her to believe that the situation had been blown out of proportion. She also explained that she specifically told a producer she didn’t want anyone in her closet, but felt they told the cast to go in there. At the time, NeNe’s late husband, Greg Leakes, was in the hospital for cancer.
“I personally think when the brown girls do something it is much more elevated than when you nice vanilla-looking girls are doing something. I don’t feel like it’s the same,” NeNe told Bethenny.
Bethenny chimed in, acknowledging the highly competitive nature of the reality TV industry. “It’s the most competitive space you can imagine,” she said, to which NeNe responded, “It’s designed that way.”
NeNe revealed that she felt she was being pushed out of the show gradually, as her screen time dwindled with each passing season. “I was given less and less episodes every season, and when I decided to leave, I think it was down to six episodes,” she explained.
Bethenny asked NeNe why she thought she was given fewer episodes, to which NeNe responded, “My thoughts in leaving were, it felt like I was being phased out. I didn’t understand why I was given less and less episodes, and I was asking why am I given less and less and less every season, and everyone else is given more. I was constantly being told by the executives in the offices that I was unhappy, and I don’t know how you can tell somebody they are unhappy.”
NeNe pointed out the stark contrast between her treatment as the only Black original housewife on the show and the treatment of the white original housewives on their respective series, who received full episodes. She questioned why, as a Black woman, she was given only six episodes while her white counterparts received 18.
“I’m the only original housewife on the show, and all the original housewives on their shows, all white women, and they are all given full episodes, and I’m the only Black original on my show, and I was given less. I was given six, and they were given 18. Why? And the only answer you can give me is you can tell me I’m unhappy. How can you tell me I’m unhappy, are you in my body?” NeNe asked.
NeNe also revealed that Bravo executives had allegedly attempted to pressure her into confronting Kandi during a pivotal season, which she refused to do, citing the Black Lives Matter movement as a reason not to engage in conflicts within the cast.
“I said I was going to take the six episodes. I got on the phone with the executives and they wanted me to come for Kandi is what they said,” NeNe claimed.
“What was their reasoning, she’s idolized?” asked Bethenny.
“I think we had some issues the season prior to and they wanted to make sure I confronted her and addressed her and I said, ‘No, I really don’t want to do that. This is Black Lives Matter and I don’t want to do that.’ And I didn’t do it. I felt like it was Black Lives Matter. I should have been there, they were trying to push me out at a time that was very important in the Black culture and if I appeared that season they wanted me to argue with Kandi and that was something I did not want to do,” said NeNe.
Furthermore, NeNe highlighted a pattern of disparate treatment, mentioning a white cast member, Kim Zolciak, who allegedly avoided cast trips and certain filming commitments, which she said her Black co-stars did not have the luxury of doing.
“There was a lot of unfair treatment happening to me, unfair treatment. During a period of years, things were happening. For instance, let me give you an example. We are a cast of Black women and we have a white woman on our show, she doesn’t travel, we travel. She doesn’t shoot, we shoot. There was a lot of different treatment happening on the show and I was more of the outspoken one, the one that was in the front. Me and the girls would talk about it and then we would say, ‘You know it’s unfair that Kim doesn’t have to take any cast trips, like none of us want to take cast trips,'” said NeNe.
While NeNe expressed her concerns and frustrations, she claimed that no one from Bravo ever reached out to address her grievances or engage in a meaningful dialogue about her experiences.
“I don’t know their response because I have worked with this company for a long time. I had issues, you would think that someone there would have said, ‘Let’s pick up the phone and talk to her and see what’s happening.’ They never picked up the phone. No one ever wanted to speak to me,” said NeNe.
ET has reached out to Andy Cohen and Bravo regarding NeNe’s claims..
In April 2022, Leakes sued the companies behind The Real Housewives of Atlanta, alleging that they fostered and tolerated a hostile and racist work environment.
The lawsuit, filed in the Atlanta federal court, lists NBCUniversal, Bravo, the production companies True Entertainment and Truly Original, executives from the companies and Andy, a Housewives executive producer, as defendants, according to documents obtained by ET.
The suit alleged, “NBC, and its parent company Comcast, perpetuate the lack of diversity in the industry. Comcast and NBC have been, and still are, plagued by a lack of diversity at the highest levels of the senior leadership.”
The lawsuit stated that NeNe had complained for years about alleged racist remarks made by Kim, who allegedly made “racially insensitive and stereotypical” comments about Kandi’s home and allegedly used the N-word to refer to NeNe and other members of the cast. NeNe did not identify Kim by name in the lawsuit.
Then in August 2022, according to court docs obtained by ET, NeNe dismissed her lawsuit without prejudice, meaning that she has the option to reopen the case in the future if she so chooses.
RELATED CONTENT: