Some The Real Housewives of Atlanta fans have complained that the show has been a little boring since NeNe Leakes left. The star, who has been a fan favorite since the show first aired, agrees.
Speaking to Hollywood Unlocked Uncensored, NeNe claims that, while she hasn’t watched much of the show since leaving, what she has seen has been disappointing. She added that it must be hard to keep any show’s momentum going without its star, referring to herself.
NeNe Leakes compares herself to Beyonce
In the interview, the former RHOA star compared herself to Beyonce. She then suggested that her leaving The Real Housewives of Atlanta was the same as Beyonce striking out from Destiny’s Child.
“In other words, it’s kind of hard to have the group Destiny’s Child and take Beyoncé out and still think you have Destiny’s Child. It’s kind of difficult to do that, you know what I mean? It’s kind of like, ‘I want Beyoncé,’” NeNe said.
NeNe Leakes famously left the show in Season 12, claiming that racism led to double standards behind the scenes. In the weeks that followed, she asked fans to boycott the show while outlining the ways she perceived racism to be at play. While she received a lot of support, there was also backlash; Claudia Jordan, called the former RHOA star “irrelevant.”
A lot of NeNe’s criticism was focused on the producers, especially executive producer Andy Cohen. The accusations were subsequently denied. The former RHOA star currently runs a boutique chain called Swagg Boutique with locations in Washington, D.C., and Miami.
She also recently opened up a suburban Atlanta-based supper club called The Linnethia Lounge. That’s kept her quite busy since leaving RHOA.
Could NeNe return to The Real Housewives of Atlanta?
That doesn’t mean that NeNe Leakes couldn’t return to The Real Housewives of Atlanta, however. While chances could be slim, the door definitely seems to be open, at least on the former star’s part.
As she said in a recent interview, she’d like to have a discussion with executive producer Andy Cohen.
Whether these discussions would lead to her return to the show is unclear, or even if that’s what she wants.
“I’d love to have a conversation because I am all about closure,” she said in the interview. “I don’t know that I would or would not, I can’t answer that. We have to talk about some things behind closed doors.”
The odds of NeNe’s return to RHOA anytime soon remain relatively low.
The Real Housewives of Atlanta airs Sundays at 8/7c on Bravo.