‘RHOA’: Nene Leakes on Status of Friendship With Cynthia Bailey – ‘I Really Thought of Her as My Sister and I Don’t Think That The Feeling Was Mutual’
Nene Leakes hasn’t been on The Real Housewives of Atlanta for three seasons, but she remains a fan favorite. While she clashed with almost every cast member on the show, she once had a strong bond with former supermodel, Cynthia Bailey. Their rift began shortly before Leakes’ last exit from the show and hasn’t come full circle. In a recent interview, Leakes revealed she didn’t feel Bailey held her in the same regard as she held Bailey.
Cynthia Bailey and Nene Leakes’ friendship has been a rollercoaster
The once-close friends had two major fallouts, one in Season 6 and another in Season 11. During a couple’s trip to Mexico in Season 6, their husbands nearly came to blows. Leakes interjected and referred to Bailey’s husband as a “b—h,” causing a rift between her and Bailey.
Though both couples apologized to each other before the season’s end, by the reunion, the ladies revealed they were no longer on speaking terms. They didn’t speak for three years before they reconciled.
At the conclusion of Season 11, Leakes felt that Bailey didn’t defend her against Kenya Moore. She also accused Bailey of setting her up by not revealing in advance that Moore would be attending an event she was hosting. Their relationship never fully repaired itself.
Nene Leakes says their friendship wasn’t reciprocal
Leakes and Bailey haven’t had much contact since Leakes exited the show after Season 12. She didn’t even attend Bailey’s wedding to Mike Hill in 2020. But amid both of their respective personal struggles – such as Leakes husband’s death and Bailey’s recent divorce filing – they have reached out to one another. But looking back, Leakes says their friendship was one-sided, though there are no hard feelings.
“Friends is a stretch….I don’t know that we will ever be in that place again…I take the word friend very seriously, so I will not be using that word [for Bailey],” Leakes told Larry Reid Live in a recent interview. She continued:
That doesn’t mean that we have any beef, we are cordial. She did text me when my son was sick recently, and I text her when I heard about her and Mike’s breakup…I’m grown. We can have our thing and our beef, but we don’t have to hold on to it forever. We don’t have to be best friends, but in a time of need – I worked with her, I was best friends with her at one point in my life – we were real friends off camera. In fact, I will go as far as saying I really thought of her as my sister, and I don’t know that the feeling was mutual.
The former ‘RHOA’ star previously said Cynthia Bailey didn’t bring anything to the show
After Leakes’ exit from the show, she had some harsh words for her former BFFs. Bailey told Wendy Williams in a recent interview that Leakes is one former cast member that should not return.
Leakes would tell several media outlets, including The Wendy Williams Show and Hollywood Unlocked, that Bailey wasn’t a good fit for the show.
“I don’t think she [Bailey] should be there, that’s just my opinion and I think she’ll be a good friend to the show and I think that she will come up with an excuse like ‘I live in L.A. now’ or something like that. So she can ‘and that’s why I decided to not do the show’ but [Bravo] decided they don’t want you on the show. But I get it. I just don’t think that she has brought anything to the show in the last few years,” Leakes told Jason Lee.
