Real Housewives of Potomac star Monique Samuels says she can empathize with former RHOA star NeNe Leakes since announcing her departure ahead of RHOP Season 6.
Monique revealed during an interview with All About The Tea that she noticed a similar pattern in hers and NeNe’s final seasons.
She admits that she saw NeNe on less episodes than usual on RHOA Season 12, as NeNe herself has pointed out.
“For her to be on this platform and for her to be who she is, I was watching last year and I saw less and less [of her on the show],” she says. “And I’m like, wait, I’m like I know she was filming the whole time…where her scenes yet. [And] as the episodes are going by, I’m like ‘Where is Nene?’”
Monique connected the dots to her own situation where she claimed she was unexpectedly cut from three episodes of the show and wasn’t paid for the filming she had done for them.
“And I’m looking and I’m thinking the same thing about myself,” she explained. “I was in 16 out of the 19 episodes. I still filmed. I was still working. I did not get paid for three episodes. That’s money that I’m investing into my businesses that I thought was coming. I had money to pay…I didn’t know that I wasn’t going to be in three episodes. I was still filming. So I get it.”
NeNe demands fans to boycott Bravo following her departure
NeNe initiated an Instagram Live along with her attorney to encourage viewers to boycott Bravo.
In the video, NeNe voices the same concerns Monique noted during her interview and claims that Bravo was continually cutting back on her airtime.
“As an original housewife, a lot of these girls were being elevated,” expressed NeNe.
“I was being demoted. And the way I was being demoted is I was given less and less episodes and these girls were given more and more episodes, I was given less.”
She added, “Orignal Housewives across the board, different states Beverly Hills, New Jersey, other places they were getting full seasons and I was given less episodes every season.”
She even created an online petition against Bravo and encouraged fans to sign it.
Fans are not impressed
Even though plenty of fans signed the boycott, the majority of fans are unimpressed with NeNe’s initiative.
Fans on Twitter claimed that NeNe should have more respect for the channel that made her famous. NeNe retorted that she is the one who made Bravo “rich and famous.”
Monique also has been looking to fans for support following her RHOP departure.
After revealing that she quit, she was afraid of disappointing her fans and hoped that she still had her support.
“It would have just been a lot easier [if I was fired] because I do feel some part of me let a lot of my fans down who have been rooting for me,” confessed Monique during an Instagram Live session.
“Everybody that’s been hashtagging ‘team Monique, I STAN with Monique’ and I really didn’t wanna let those people down,” she added.
The Real Housewives of Potomac is on hiatus on Bravo.