‘RHOA’ Alum Nene Leakes Is Ready to Have Conversation With Andy Cohen After Nasty Feud
Nene Leakes is reality television icon having starred on The Real Housewives of Atlanta for 10 seasons. The queen of memes was on a whole decade on the Bravo network but her demise was unfortunate. After a contentious negotiation battle, an agreement was not able to be reached and Leakes quit the show leaving fans heartbroken. Following her exit, Leakes made claims against Andy Cohen — even calling him a racist. However, in a recent interview, Leakes is saying she is ready to have a conversation with her former boss.
Why did things end badly between Nene Leakes and Andy Cohen?
Before Leakes officially confirmed she was not returning to RHOA Season 12, she had hinted there were racial inequality issues. Despite Cohen sharing a lovely message honoring her iconicness, things were seemingly not well between the star and the executive producer. It all became clear when Leakes went on a Twitter rant where she called out Cohen.
All of the drama happened after Wendy Williams appeared on Cohen’s Watch What Happens Live late-night show. Williams said that Leakes “needs the show” and would eventually return to RHOA.
“Nene likes attention, dramatic attention. I don’t know what NeNe’s going to be doing for money. I’m not trying to count coins, but the Housewives is that one thing that all the girls use to promote their other stuff,” Williams said back in September 2020.
This interview set Leakes off on Twitter as she seemingly believed Williams was doing Cohen’s bidding.
“I will ALWAYS eat and eat good! Believe that,” Leakes tweeted. “I have ALWAYS believed in multiple streams of income so the leakes are good you ole cocaine head and you ole racist. No one knew you until YOU knew me. Remember I’m ICON. Don’t forget.”
Leakes then added a tweet directed at Cohen saying, “The racist is the master manipulator! They using me for ratings like they have always done.”
Nene Leakes and Andy Cohen are on a ‘break’
Despite the nastiness of the feud between Leakes and Cohen, the former RHOA star seemingly holds the latter close to her heart. During an interview for Hollywood Unlocked on FOX Soul, Leakes updated host Jason Lee on the status of her relationship with Cohen.
“Right now I will have to see we’re on a break,” Leakes said.
Lee pointed out that Leakes did care about Cohen at one point. The “Come and Get This Hunni” said that she helped put Cohen’s late-night show “on the map” as well as the host himself.
“I love Andy like if he was a family member, there’s no doubt about that,” Leakes added.
Although their friendship didn’t end well, Leakes said that she can’t deny her feelings and she just had a fallout with her friend.
“I can’t pretend like I never loved them,” she explained. “I had lots of fun with him, I felt we had a great relationship. And I don’t know when things went wrong. I’m surprised and saddened … I felt blindsided.”
Leakes said that she is open to a conversation with Cohen because she likes to have closure on things.
Leakes has also not closed the door completely on a RHOA return and expressed that she would need to have a conversation with executives. For now, Leakes is concentrated on making The Linnethia Lounge a hit in Georgia as the reality star ventures out into the restaurant business.
