NeNe Leakes appeared on Carlos King’s podcast, ‘Reality with the King’,’ and dished on her many seasons spent on ‘The Real Housewives of Atlanta.’
You already know the shade was flowing freely!
via Collider:
NeNe shared with Carlos that she was only paid $10k for the entirety of season one of the series. A season that she technically filmed twice, as she, Kim Zolciak, and Shereé Whitfield filmed a pilot that was shopped around before the series was picked up. When it was officially picked up, everything was re-shot, adding DeShawn Snow and Lisa Wu into the cast. NeNe also shared that she did receive five thousand in additional pay for the reunion, but that was it. Any trips, dinners, or parties thrown came out of their own personal pockets, and not Bravo’s. As shocking as this sounds, it turns out that they weren’t the only ones that were grossly underpaid. Bethanny Frankel shared that she only received $7,250 for her first season of RHONY, while stars on RHOC were only paid five thousand dollars for their first season. It’s wild to think that their pay was so little, given the popularity Bravo gained because of it.
NeNe felt that she was the underdog in the early days of the series. Kim and Shereé had more money than she did, which created this feeling. And given that fans now know that Shereé intentionally left NeNe off the list in that infamous early episode, it’s easy to see why she felt like the underdog. Despite this, she chose to be 100% herself on the series, and that moment of not being on the list became a blessing in disguise. It cemented NeNe as a fan favorite. She says that the first four seasons were really about their personal lives, no implanted storylines needed. As more housewives joined the show, NeNe became more wary of the new wives intentions.
RHOA was the first all Black ensemble reality series that had hit television since the Flavor of Love era, which had began fizzling out a year or so prior. RHOA re-launched the Black reality platform, and NeNe felt initially very protective of the series. She believes the series paved the way for more Black reality franchises like Basketball Wives and Love and Hip Hop. NeNe has a clear idea of what she believes reality TV should be. She believes it should be real, which is what drew people to the show in the first place. When new wives started showing up, there became more crafting, like having “fake boyfriends”, and other unrealistic drama. She was initially against Phaedra Parks joining the show due to having known her in the past in Athens, Georgia. She warmed up to her, of course, but did notice that she and a few others did not want to show their authentic selves to the world. Phaedra’s lies about when her baby was due led to a weird twist in the storyline. Not knowing your own child’s due date is, frankly, impossible, unless you aren’t seeing a doctor at all. Things shifted even more in season five when Kenya Moore and Porsha Williams joined the series. When Carlos asked if NeNe felt that Kenya was the reason the show changed, she didn’t necessarily say that was the case, but the shift did happen around the same time. Despite these shifts, NeNe stayed true to who she was, and while she has some regrets about things seen on the show, she does not regret her time on the series.
NeNe met Cynthia Bailey for the first time shortly after she was cast in season three. She shares Cynthia was starstruck and nervous, and she felt like Cynthia may have been too quiet to join the cast at the time. Things changed when she met Peter Thomas, and felt he was the polar opposite of the quiet Cynthia. Peter was extra, and she shared that If Cynthia wasn’t with Peter, she may not have been cast on the show. This is not to say that Cynthia couldn’t handle herself; in fact, she shared that the Cynthia she knows off-screen is very different from what she portrayed. It appeared that Peter was the one in charge of their marriage, but much like her and her late husband Gregg Leakes relationship, Cynthia was the one in charge. Fans often take what they see on the show at face value, and the ones who seemed louder seemed to be the bossy ones. NeNe said that Cynthia could handle Peter, and read anyone for filth. When asked about what happened to her and Cynthia’s friendship, she believes that Cynthia let other people’s opinions get into her head. NeNe misses that friendship, but says it isn’t salvageable due to some alleged shady things happening behind the scenes. When Carlos pressed further, she shares that she believes Cynthia was working with producers to get her fired. Not only that, but it seemed as if everyone who joined the show would immediately try to come for her, something that she believes was orchestrated by the producers. This certainly adds to the understanding of her current beef with Bravo and Andy Cohen. Despite their efforts, everyone knows that NeNe was the star of the show, and it has suffered a lot since she left.
It was refreshing to see a calmer, seemingly more honest side of NeNe. Check out the interview below.
