REALITY TV NEWSNeNe Leakes Addresses 'RHOA' Return Speculation — Would She Consider a 'Friend' Role?
NeNe Leakes talked about returning to 'RHOA' in a 'friend' role on a recent podcast.
July 9 2025, Published 12:23 p.m. ET
Is NeNe Leakes returning to The Real Housewives of Atlanta?
Although Leakes, 57, began the hit franchise, she left after Season 12, which aired in 2019.
NeNe Talks About Being a 'Friend'
NeNe Leakes said she's 'not mad' at the 'friend' role.
Speaking on Cynthia Bailey and Crystal Kung Minkoff’s “Humble Brag” podcast, Leakes addressed the prospect of being a “friend,” a role Bailey took on in Season 16 after being full-time from Season 3 to 13.
"I'm not mad at the 'friend' role," she shared. "I just think, answering your question, if I were to ever step back on that platform and would I be a friend, I really feel like, I don't know that I would be a friend.”
“I like the 'friend' role, I like the capacity, I don't have a problem with it at all,” she added. “I just would think, NeNe, Season 1, the first Housewife, and I'm a friend? I don't know."
NeNe Was Offered a Role on 'The Traitors'
NeNe Leakes was offered a spot on the new season of 'The Traitors.'
While a return to RHOA may be in her future, Leakes confessed she turned down the offer to be on the new season of The Traitors.
“So, I was asked to do Traitors — I was really excited about doing it, by the way,” she revealed. “I couldn’t do Traitors ‘cause my son’s in the hospital. And he’s still in the hospital.”
Brentt Leakes was hospitalized in 2022 after he suffered a stroke due to congestive heart failure. Two years later, he had a heart transplant surgery, leading him to relearn motor and communicative skills. Unfortunately, he started having health issues again when his heart “started rejecting” the implant.
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'I Got the Check'
NeNe Leakes refuted a rumor she turned down 'The Traitors' over money.
“I kept thinking maybe Brentt would be much better [by June],” NeNe said. “My fear was committing and then having to go back to them and say, ‘I can’t do it.’ So, that was never going to work. Brentt was very sick. It was no way I could have committed to it. And I believe you have to go out of the country [to film the series].”
NeNe also addressed reports she turned down the offer because she didn't like the paycheck.
“A blogger had said, ‘Nene did not take Traitors because the check wasn’t big enough,’” she stated. “I was like, ‘No, no, no. I got the check.’ I couldn’t do it.”
Brentt's Doing Better
NeNe Leakes sued Andy Cohen and Bravo in 2022.
The reality starlet noted Brentt is doing better today, as he’s “walking,” which he wasn’t doing at the time she was offered The Traitors. Had he been where he is today, she said she would have moved forward with TV series.
NeNe has been known to stir things up, as she previously sued Bravo and Andy Cohen in April 2022, alleging the network and Cohen fostered “a corporate and workplace culture in which racially insensitive and inappropriate behavior is tolerated — if not encouraged.”
However, she dropped the lawsuit in August 2022 and recently has made it clear she’s open to working with Bravo and NBCUniversal again.
