Nene Leakes From ‘RHOA’ Denies Wendy Williams Claim of Racial Profiling at Bergdorf Goodman
Nene Leakes from The Real Housewives of Atlanta is spending the week in New York City and catching up with friends. Over the weekend, the Bravo star met up with co-star Marlo Hampton and bestie Wendy Williams. The latter mentioned the shopping trip the trio had at Bergdorf Goodman. However, she revealed that the outing turned sour as they were being followed by security.
What Wendy Williams said about the incident
On Monday’s episode of The Wendy Williams Show, the titular TV host gave a recap of her shopping trip with Leakes and Hampton.
“Nene sent her car. The car picked me up [and] dropped me off at Bergdorf. The girls were waiting. This is like a glamour suite they have at Bergdorf,” Williams said on her talk show. “We each had a salesgirl. We gave them each of our sizes. They’re fetching stuff…Nene bought a handful of gowns. Marlo charged a whole bunch of stuff.”
Williams said they all bought something and even had lunch at the department store. That’s when she claims to have noticed that they were being followed by security.
“We not just shopped, we went upstairs and had lunch—the whole bit. The three of us take over. And can I tell you something about security? They treated us like ‘the hood’ that they treat us,” she claimed. “You can earn what you want, you can do what you want but when you are what you are, you better not be surprised about how people treat you. We were followed like we were about to do something.”
What Nene Leakes recalled about the shopping trip
After Williams told her story, The Breakfast Club asked Leakes about the shopping trip. The RHOA star recalls their experience very differently than what daytime talk show host said during her “Hot Topics” segment.
“I was there, but I didn’t see it like how she saw it, I didn’t see it like how Marlo saw it,” she said. “I did see security, but I just thought security was just there, I don’t know.”
Leakes also noted that when they talked into the store Williams bought something instantly.
“I feel like her and Marlo were playing a little bit in the store, like playing around laughing,” Leakes continued. “Marlo mentioned it to me, she said ‘do you know security has been following us since we got here?’ I said, really? I didn’t pay them any attention and Marlo said, ‘I think they’re just fascinated.’”
Bergdorf Goodman reacts to Wendy Williams’ claims
After news of Williams’ visit to the luxurious department store, Bergdorf Goodman released a statement.
“Bergdorf Goodman and its parent company Neiman Marcus Group are committed to ensuring that all shoppers, guests, and employees are treated with respect and dignity in a safe and secure shopping environment,” the statement obtained by BET read. “Our policies strictly prohibit profiling of any kind, and any claims will be thoroughly investigated.”
Wendy Williams clarifies incident
On Wednesday’s episode of The Wendy Williams Show, the titular host recounted the story and filled in missing parts to clarify the incident. Williams said she had not been into that department store in 20 years because of an incident before.
“They took me immediately to the big girl department and I felt intense security around me in this store. I said, ‘not only do I not like this neighborhood, [but I also] don’t like this store, I’m not going back there.’ I hadn’t been back there in 20 years,” Williams said about her prior incident in the store.
“My two girlfriends from out of town wanted to go there. We get to the store… totally different atmosphere. I felt no hot breath on my neck. We each had our own salespeople. We had lunch, shopped, treated really well,” she said.
Although she doesn’t mention her by name, Leakes said it was Hampton that mentioned they were followed by security. Williams added that this happened when they were saying goodbye and leaving the store.
“One of them says, ‘you realize we were followed the whole time.’ That’s the part I left out of my story,” Williams continued. “A lot of you said, ‘well Wendy if you were followed, why did you buy anything?’ I didn’t know anything about that. There’s some people that have their eyes on that kind of stuff. When you’re born brown it’s just a natural thing. I’m smart enough to understand when I was treated graciously. That’s the story, I didn’t feel any of that, [and] I didn’t see any following.”
The Wendy Williams Show airs in syndication across the U.S., check local listings for times.
