Source: D Dipasupil / Getty
Part two of the explosive Nene Leakes interview on the Carlos King podcast Reality With The King aired Tuesday.
During part one of the podcast, she discussed the origins of the popular reality show and her friendship with her fellow OG housewife, Sheree Whitfield. The second part of the podcast featured Leakes updating listeners on her deflated friendship with Wendy Williams, her lawsuit against Bravo and its parent company, her unsuccessful efforts to secure a podcast deal, and her Ladies of Success charity.
See everything we learned during the second installment of Nene Leakes Reality With The King interview.
Nene Leakes explained why she sued the network after being invited to return to “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” for six episodes.
Leakes filed a lawsuit against several entities and executives involved with the show’s production, alleging racial discrimination. According to People, the lawsuit was dismissed in April 2022.
She told King she was treated differently than the other OG Housewives, and she wanted the network to explain why they were only offering her six episodes. She claimed that there are group text messages that prove that other housewives shared her feelings.
“All I ever wanted on this show was to be treated fairly,” she said. “And a lot of girls and the people that work on the show and behind the scenes know that there were things that were just not fair at all.”
Leakes said Kim Zolciak was not required to attend cast trips. Meanwhile, she and the other castmates were.
King said he thought that the issues could be resolved with a “three-hour lunch” where the parties hashed out their issues.
Real Housewives of Atlanta was once the hottest show on Bravo, but Nene Leakes does not believe the network intended it to go that way.
Real Housewives of Atlanta has fallen out of the top spot in the Bravoverse. “I believe that production and the network wanted it to be that way,” she declared.
She said production did not want girls that had the “it factor” on the show.
“I think they wanted it that way,” she said. “They did not want these girls to be the number one show,” she said.
Nene Leakes confirmed that she thought Kandi Burruss was overpaid and overrated.
King asked Leakes if she thought the reigning housewife was overrated and overpaid. “I think that Kandi is not exciting,” she said about Burruss.
“I just don’t think the camera loves her. I think the camera loves her family, but I don’t think they love her,” she continued. “I don’t think that anybody tunes in and be like, Oh my God she’s just bringing it, and she’s so everything.”
She thought she would be spared by Wendy Willams.
Leakes thought she and Wendy had a genuine friendship and said she enjoyed spending time with the radio legend and former talk show host. “I really liked her,” she said. “I saw her switch on me right in the same day. I don’t know what happened.”
“We would be having a great time, and suddenly I would turn on the tv, and she would be saying something about me, and I would be like we were just having a good ass time how did we get here now,” she continued.
Nene said the network’s company “pushed” her fellow reality star Kim Kardashian and did not support her the same way.
“I feel like they pushed Kim, and they didn’t push me. They pushed Kim to the front and pushed me to the back, and I don’t feel that was by chance,” said Leakes.
She reminded listeners that she and Kim Kardashian both had ShoeDazzle deals, and she interacted with the Kardashian family in work settings on multiple occasions. “Kris had a talk show I cohosted,” she told King.
Leakes also said that she and her castmates were not allowed to promote their businesses as much as the cast of Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
“All they do is talk about their businesses,” she said.
“You should be on the same level as Kim Kardashian,” King told Leakes.
Nene named the fight she had with Claudia Jordan and her bob as the “number one battle” she had during her time on the show.”
One of the most memorable moments on the show is Leake’s battle royale with Claudia Jordan in season 7, episode 10.
They argued over runway sizes, and Leakes attacked Jordan’s bob using hilarious hand gestures. She told King that she had to bring her A-game to defeat the television personality in the shade-off.
“I feel like we gave each other a run, and not many girls can give me a run,” said Leakes.
King confirmed Leakes told producers that Jordan obviously deserved a peach over Demetria McKinney afterwards. “Y’all picked the wrong bitch,” he said Leakes told him.
“Claudia was really going toe to toe,” she added. “She earned her peach.”
Nene tried to negotiate several deals unsuccessfully since exiting reality television.
Leakes said she tried to negotiate several television and podcast deals after leaving reality television. Somehow, when she would be in negotiations, the deals would fall through.
“I was in many talks to do anything, and they would just die,” she revealed.
“And that’s not by chance,” she added. “That’s not by chance.” King was moved to tears. “It saddens me deeply,” he said about Leakes not being recognized the way he thought she should.
“You’ve done so much for this industry, and you’ve done so much for this genre,” he said.
“You have paved the way for Black reality stars.”
DON’T MISS:
7 Things We Learned From The Carlos King And Nene Leakes ‘Reality With The King’ Podcast Interview
