Source: HSN
NeNe Leakes doesn’t really need any introduction. At least once a week something she’s said, done or something that involves her, in one way or another, is featured here on MN. We’re always talking about NeNe and have been since she joined the cast of “Real Housewives of Atlanta” with her one of kind brand of “keepin’ it real.” In honor of her launching her new clothing line with HSN, we got a chance to speak to Ms. Leakes about everything from her new business venture with HSN, the end of her friendships with Marlo and Cynthia, the issues she has with Wendy Williams, why she can’t leave RHOA even if she wanted to and whether or not we’ll see her on Broadway. Just like the NeNe we see on television, Ms. Leakes had plenty to say when we spoke to her on the phone and I ended the conversation remembering just how she became the one-to-watch reality star that she is today. Here, NeNe Leakes talks new HSN clothing line and much more.
What inspired the clothing line?
I wanted women of all ages, all shapes, all sizes to feel comfortable and confident in the clothes that they’re wearing. My motto was, for every woman to walk into her closet, walk out of her closet and own it. I just want them to own it. I would go out like that. I would have women that would approach me and say things like, ‘Hey NeNe where do you buy your clothes?’ First thing they would say, ‘You’ve lost so much weight.’ And I would say ‘No I haven’t.’ You watch me on television and I know television sometimes makes people look much larger but I’m not plus size. But people thought I was plus size from watching me on television and I would say, you know I need to come out with a line of clothing that makes women feel good, affordable luxury. I’m able to walk through the store and obviously buy things that are very expensive but there was a time in my life when I couldn’t afford things either. So we came out with a line with good fabrics, things that really felt good, things that wash good, things that dry cleaned well, things that didn’t tear. And then clothes for larger, curvier girls. We can tap into a market that nobody is really tapping into right now and that’s what I did.
What made you chose to partner with HSN?
We took meetings with a lot of different people. And HSN actually felt right. When they walked into the room we totally clicked. And you need to really work with people who really understand and get you. They even took a little bit of a chance too. There’s a reason why people aren’t going into market for the curvier girls. They felt like it was a little scary to kind of go up to sizes that were so large but I felt very adamant about us clothing the curvier girl. And I felt like the curvier woman or girl would want to come out and purchase this line if we made things that weren’t frumpy, if we only made things that were stylish. I felt like a lot of their issues were they couldn’t find things that were stylish in the market.
I’m a beginner in the fashion industry so I wanted to be able to learn my craft. One thing I hate is doing things that I don’t have the full knowledge of. I feel like I can turn it all the way out if I have full knowledge of how the game works.
Source: HSN
Did you get into reality TV to use it as a platform?
You know when I first started I didn’t really know what the whole reality tv world was about. I had watched “Flavor of Love” and the two brothers [from “I Love New York.”] The Osbournes and “The Real World” but I really didn’t know that much about reality shows. I was acting at the time. I was going back and forth from Atlanta to Los Angeles to be a part of pilot season. And when I got approached by these producers to do the housewives of Atlanta I wasn’t thinking about anything other than maybe this could help my acting career. So I didn’t really go into the show with a plan. Once I got on the show and saw what the show was, I was like ‘Oh ok, I’m about ready to turn this into a business. We really need to start working on our dreams.’ And just from that– I didn’t even know how I was going to work on my dream actually.
I met this man, whose my manager now, Steven Grossman, he would say ‘I see all of these things for you. I watch you and I feel like you can do this, that or the other.’ And I thought, ‘Ok, so he wants some money.’ So I let the meeting go and went a whole other year and he would always try to send me a message like I still want to work with you and I was like ‘Ok…no!’ Until one day, I sat back and thought I just really learned the game after doing the show a couple of seasons.
I really was able to work on the show and saw that there were so many girls on the show who wanted to be popular. It was so weird to me because honestly… honestly I never wanted to be popular. I never thought about that. I always thought, I want to damn eat and I want some damn money. When other girls on the show were thinking about how popular they were, I felt like I was always popular. I was popular in high school. It was never that serous to me. These girls wanted rich boyfriends but they never wanted to do anything. They just wanted to date a popular guy. So I learned real quick. I thought, hey I’m married. All I can do right now is try to figure out how we can eat. It just popped in my mind to start working, you got to do other things outside of this show. So I reached back out to Steven and I said let’s give this a try. And it just worked for us. It just worked in my favor that people wanted to meet with me.
Image Source: BravoTV.com
What made you come back to RHOA, when you felt like you were made into the villain?
Every single season, somehow people think I’m not coming back. Somehow, I’m the only one who people ask ‘Is she coming back or not?’ It’s like why do you guys consistently ask if I’m coming back, what about the rest of the girls? But I think that people don’t understand it’s not really our choice like that. When I signed on for season 1, I signed on for a number of seasons. We’re like actors, we sign for a number of seasons and they’re either going to pick you up at the end of the season or drop you, unless you finish out your contract. You finish out your contract, then you’re out. You become a free agent like Lebron James. So I have obligations. It’s not like I can just walk away from something like it’s just that easy, it’s really not.
And I have to say, listen, although the show can be very negative, it truly, for me–now I know it ain’t happening for everybody because I looked and I’ve got two big ole eyes– but for me it has opened many doors of opportunity. It has been a major platform for me. It is a negative show from time to time. And it does suck from time to time but it’s also an amazing platform and it definitely opened up doors of opportunity for me.
Everybody on these shows are not smart. Everybody isn’t smart. Trust me. A lot of girls are on the show and they walk around and they’re not that smart. They’re not…that…smart. They’re not business savvy, how about that?
Source: Twitter
What can you say you’ve learned from the ending of your friendships with Marlo and Cynthia?
I think the people who watch these shows, they don’t see everything, one. Two, Marlo, first of all, has never been a housewife, she’s never signed on. She doesn’t have a contract. We’re all contracted. She’s just a character that just comes around to play. When we do a show like this, there will be new girls that come on these shows all the time. I will give you a good example: when Kenya came on the show I never met Kenya Moore a day in my life, until she came to Atlanta and they signed her to be a housewife. They obviously have to connect her with somebody. And then when the shows air, you guys watch the show and think ‘she fell out with her friend.’ It’s like girl, I’ve only known her for six months and she talked about me, she’s not my friend!
Same thing for Cynthia. Not saying that Cynthia and I did not have a friendship. We actually formed a real friendship in real life. They signed Cynthia up to do this show, I never met her a day in my life. I know people said she modeled, I’m just keeping it real, I’d never seen her model, I never knew her name, I never knew anything about her. They brought her to my front door step and said ‘This is who you’re shooting with today’. It was the first time I met her a day in my life. Outside of that we did form a real friendship. But people who watched “I Dream Of NeNe,” know I have real friends in my real NeNe Leakes life, who I have been friends with for 15-20 years.
Some of my newer fiends or my tv friendships, they showed up as bridesmaids because we are doing television and so they were there for tv.
As far as Marlo, she’s a non-factor, really. She really, really is.
Cynthia I honestly had a real friendship with her. I don’t know where all this is coming from. But it was sorted out on season 7 for all of your guys to see. But I must say I feel like I’m a great friend to everybody who’s really been a friend in my life.
Why did you feel like you needed to address Wendy Williams with that open letter?
We all know that Wendy has been very negative towards a lot people in the industry. That’s basically how she built her career. That’s fine with me. No tea and no shade. But the deal is I supported Wendy, I was supportive of Wendy. If you rewind the tape all the way back to season one, when she first opened up her show for the first week, I sat on her show for a full hour. And I helped her when she launched her show that week. I would like to think that I’ve been on there more than any other reality show star.
This is off camera…when she did her 500th episode, her producers called me and told me ‘Wendy is doing her 500th show, we would love for you to come and celebrate with her.’ And I said Wow. I flew to New York and bought her a Celine bag, it ain’t got nothing to do with the price or nothing. I went to her and said to her, ‘I am so proud of you Wendy.’ Honestly, I hugged her and told her I am so proud of you. Because I feel like she was a Black woman opening up the door for me to walk through. That’s an amazing accomplishment as an African American woman.
All of a sudden it’s like Wendy flipped and went on some type of sabotaging campaign. Every time she would put my picture up, she said something negative about me. I don’t watch her show anymore because she has been so negative toward people. And she’s not only negative toward people, she is negative toward Black girls. And you’re a Black woman sitting up here. Now, I have a feeling why she’s saying it, but I just want people to know it was not about my Birkin bag, my bag was the last straw for me. She put on this sabotaging campaign for a very long time. So I wanted to do an open letter and just said to her ‘What did I do to you?!’ Because if I did anything to you, you need to tell me.
So I wanted to say, hey look I’m a Black girl doing a clothing line on HSN. Now, I know you hear a lot of Black girls saying they have clothing lines but do you see their products anywhere? And do you see them selling them anywhere, outside of the trunk of their car or some website somewhere? Look, if I win, you win. If I open up that door of opportunity for you, this is a possibility that you will be able to walk through this same door. What we are doing with HSN or any of these department stores is not easy. I’m a brown girl, so I just feel like girl, give me props. What she did was make it seem like Kim and Kanye have enough money to deface a bag and I don’t have that kind of money. And my bag costs $6,000 and Kim’s bag costs an astronomical amount of money. So I said, ‘Ok, obviously she doesn’t own an Hermes.’ She said my bag costs $6,000. Well you need to go to the Hermes store and see if you can pick up you a bag for $6,000. You will not leave with a bag like mine. That bag costs a lot of money and first of all, I defaced it, it is my bag. I spent my money on it. I have several. Whether Kim and Kanye have way more money than me or not, I’m out here getting money. So you should at least give me props. Girl, you know I ain’t been out of a job. I have worked my ass off out here. I wouldn’t have even cared if she criticized my bag. But she tried to lower the cost of my damn bag and then she tried to act like I’m not out here working everyday getting money. Girl, bye. I’m so done with you right now. I know why you’re doing this and you know why you’re doing it too. You just another one of these haters, just hate to see another sister come up. Women need to support women more often, we really do.
If you are out here doing something big, I will never put you down.
Just don’t try to take nothing from me. You don’t have to like me but don’t take nothing from me.
Now though, thinking about it, I wish I hadn’t responded.
Is Phaedra returning for the next season?
Bravo has to make that announcement. Y’all don’t put your money on her not being back, how about that?
What do you think about Apollo’s situation?
You know things happen when you break the law. I like Apollo and I really do hate that this happened. I think Apollo is smart. And they have to little young boys…eight years is a long time. That’s a long time to give your life away. I can’t give these people seven days. I hate it happened, I really do. And I also hate that it’s public. They’re already going through something, he’s got to be going through something and she’s going through something and now the public is all in it.
We’ve heard rumors that you’re coming to Broadway is that true?
You know. I’m not trying to get the role. I wish I could say something else. I have been spoken to–how about that? I’ve been reached out to but it’s not like I’m trying to get the role. Come in and try to get the role, I was not approached that way. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens. I would love to be on Broadway by the way.
Shop NeNe’s HSN collection. The line is for everyone and features sizes 2-24 and XS to 3X.
