Is Nene Leakes leaving Bravo to pursue her own show?
Amid firing rumors (which Nene and Bravo have fervently denied), talks about the Real Housewives of Atlanta star leaving the network for E! have surfaced, with ideas for a spinoff show.
“Nene is pursuing her own show at E! because she’s felt like her time at Bravo has been up for awhile,” a source told The Sun recently.
The source added that if Nene does leave the franchise, she wants to “go out on her own terms,” and is apparently “pushing for [the spinoff]” so that if the network does let her go, she appears to have “something else already in the works.”
“Bravo isn’t budging on the contracts so unless she accepts that, it looks like she won’t be coming back [to RHOA],” the source revealed.
Even so, the source claimed that E! “has shown no interest in green-lighting the series” thus far while a rep for Bravo continued to deny that Nene is leaving, saying how “conversations for the next season are still ongoing.”
Although the reality star has OG status since joining the show at its inception, she was notably absent from the first few episodes of season 12, allegedly due to suspension after an on-camera fight with a producer during season 11. She also walked off the season 12 reunion after a fiery conflict with her co-stars and recently caused a stir by retweeting a fan’s call to get Andy Cohen fired from the network.
So what do her castmates think about all this?
Reports have revealed that the RHOA women (which no longer includes Eva Marcille) have mixed emotions around the potential of Nene’s departure, with “little sister” Porsha Williams hoping for her pal’s return.
“Porsha is really hoping that Nene does sign her contract and come back to the show,” an insider told HollywoodLife on June 20. “They’ve gotten extremely close especially during quarantine. Nene is like a mother hen to her and always is checking in on [her 1-year-old daughter] PJ, it’s sweet. They’ve come really far.”
The other RHOA cast members — which includes Kandi Burruss, Cynthia Bailey, and Kenya Moore — are all apparently indifferent about Nene returning to the franchise. They believe the show can continue without her.
“The other ladies don’t care either way if Nene returns or not. They’re not surprised that Nene hasn’t signed her contract yet because she does this every season,” the insider reported. “Last year she wasn’t in the first few episodes because she refused to sign her contract. They know Nene is Nene. They know she doesn’t make or break the show and feel it’ll go on successfully with or without her in it.”
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