NeNe Leakes says she’s out.
The Real Housewives of Atlanta star announced Thursday she won’t be returning to the hit Bravo series.
“I have been on an extremely, extremely long, exhausting, tiring, emotional negotiation,” Leakes said in a video on her YouTube channel. “There has been a lot of emotion flying from both sides. It has been hard, and I have made the very hard and difficult decision to not be a part of Real Housewives of Atlanta season 13. It wasn’t an easy decision for me. It was hard.”
Leakes is one of the original cast members on the series, which debuted in 2008. She left for seasons 8 and 9, but returned for seasons 10-12.
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The reality star noted that she never expected the show to take off the way it did. “I’m just so happy that I can say that I was a part of a genre that opened up doors for Black ensemble reality shows,” she said.
Leakes went on to thank fans, her production company and Bravo for “all the memories, the laughs, the tears.” She concluded, “I will see you again real soon.”
Page Six reported in August that contract negotiations for Leakes to return to RHOA were not “going in her favor.”
Still, Bravo responded to the reality star’s announcement Thursday, by saying she has been an “instrumental” member of the cast.
“We wish NeNe all the best in her future endeavors and thank her for sharing her journey for over a decade with the fans of The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” the network said in a statement to the media. “She’s been instrumental since the start and will truly be missed, and maybe one day she’ll hold the peach again.”
Leakes’ announcement comes three months after Eva Marcille said she would be leaving RHOA after three seasons.
“Everything has a reason and a season and the time that I spent on Housewives, I enjoyed myself, I cried, I laughed, I obviously fought, and we did a lot of things,” she said on The Rickey Smiley Morning Show. “But most importantly, I made some great friendships with some beautiful women and I believe that my time is up.”
