nene leakes
NeNe Leakes opened upabout her beefs with Marlo Hampton, Cynthia Bailey and Wendy Williams, and after all of that, why she’s still on “The Real Housewives of Atlanta.”
Leakes talked about how she got started with “RHOA” and utilizing it as a platform.
“You know when I first started I didn’t really know what the whole reality TV world was about. I was going back and forth from Atlanta to Los Angeles to be a part of  pilot season. And when I got approached by these producers to do the housewives of Atlanta I wasn’t thinking about anything other than maybe this could help my acting career.”
And she added why she kept coming back, “every single season, somehow people think I’m not coming back. Somehow, I’m the only one who people ask ‘Is she coming back or not?’ It’s like why do you guys consistently ask if I’m coming back, what about the rest of the girls? But I think that people don’t understand it’s not really our choice like that.”
She continued with, “when I signed on for season 1, I signed on for a number of seasons.  We’re like actors, we sign for a number of seasons and they’re either going to pick you up at the end of the season or drop you, unless you finish out your contract.”
Leakes said people don’t see everything on these reality shows though. She talked about her friendships with Hampton and other “RHOA” cast-mates.
“Marlo, first of all, has never been a housewife, she’s never signed on. She doesn’t have a contract. We’re all contracted. She’s just a character that just comes around to play.”
“Kenya came on the show I never met Kenya Moore a day in my life, until she came to Atlanta and they signed her to be a housewife. They obviously have to connect her with somebody. And then when the shows air, you guys watch the show and think ‘she fell out with her friend.’ It’s like girl, I’ve only known her for six months and she talked about me, she’s not my friend!”
She opened up about her friendship with Bailey and how they formed a friendship through the show in real life.
“They signed Cynthia up to do this show, I never met her a day in my life. I know people said she modeled, I’m just keeping it real, I’d never seen her model, I never knew her name, I never knew anything about her. They brought her to my front door step and said ‘This is who you’re shooting with today’.”
She added, “it was the first time I met her a day in my life. Outside of that we did form a real friendship. But people who watched “I Dream Of NeNe,” know I have real friends in my real NeNe Leakes life, who I have been friends with for 15-20 years.”
But she revealed she was friends once with Williams and penned the open letter to the TV personality for her negativity.
“We all know that Wendy has been very negative towards a lot people in the industry. That’s basically how she built her career. That’s fine with me. No tea and no shade. But the deal is I supported Wendy, I was supportive of Wendy.”
She added how she helped launch her show, “if you rewind the tape all the way back to season one, when she first opened up her show for the first week, I sat on her show for a full hour. And I helped her when she launched her show that week. I would like to think that I’ve been on there more than any other reality show star.
Read more of the exclusive interview at MadameNoire.