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NeNe Leakes has long been known for being a champion shade-thrower. If you dish it, she can throw it right back in an epic way. But there are some snappy retorts that aren’t shady, funny, clever or cute. They’re just downright ugly.
NeNe may currently have a gripe with just about all of her Real Housewives of Atlanta co-stars, but plenty of viewers are upset with her over the comments she has made as of late about the bodies of some of those co-stars (former and present) during pregnancy.
During the RHOA finale, where Kenya Moore made her controversial return, albeit brief, to the series, NeNe made a number of comments alluding to the size of her body and her pregnancy. When Porsha told Kenya that she didn’t expect her to come in the body-hugging red dress she was proudly sporting when she showed up to Cynthia Bailey’s Seagram’s event, NeNe threw jabs saying, “Me either, honey. Oh, my God. Doesn’t she look amazing?! She looks amazing, honey. That body is beat, honey.” She was also patronizing when referencing how “cute” the star looked near the end of her pregnancy.
When Kenya got ready to leave the event and didn’t acknowledge NeNe on the way out, she responded by saying Kenya had to rush out because she was “going into labor.” She also asked Kandi, “She’s going to have a buffalo, isn’t she?”
Kenya live-tweeted the finale and called out the comments:
And who could forget her disgusting comments about Porsha’s body when the women had a public disagreement about whether or not NeNe put her hands on Porsha at the “Bye, wig” party? In private text messages that Porsha would put on blast (before deleting), NeNe called her a “lying a– big fat hungry b—h” and “big piggy with the busted shape,” telling her she needed to try dieting to lose weight. We now know that wasn’t the first time she has made a negative reference to Porsha’s body while pregnant. As you probably saw during part one of the reunion on Sunday, when Porsha let out a loud sigh at NeNe’s claims that she does address her friends about her issues with them instead of going to social media first, NeNe replied by claiming Porsha was “so big over there,” and saying, “blimps.”
Like Kenya, Porsha also called out the bullshit comments:
And now I’m calling them out because someone needs to figure out what is really going on.
I’m well aware that this is what these women do for a living — throw shade at one another. Therefore, the comments NeNe made to Kenya and Porsha about their bodies during pregnancy and after probably didn’t affect them in the way that it may have impacted an everyday women just trying to make it through nine months while going through all sorts of body changes. For the record, a recent study found that 1 out of 7 pregnant women struggles with depression, and experts say that it can affect their baby. So from a basic looking-out-for-the-well-being-of-expectant-mothers angle, it’s egregious behavior on NeNe’s part to not once, not twice, but quite a few times, make the bodies of these women the butt of a joke.
Not to mention, from a basic empathetic standpoint, knowing the lengths Kenya went for years to finally have her daughter, Brooklyn, or the loss Porsha incurred before having PJ, as well as the hospital visits she had to endure while carrying her, the fact that NeNe could even fix her mouth to talk crazy about them during their happiest time in their lives is sad.
But therein lies the problem when it comes to NeNe. She was, for the most of the season, in the role of caretaker and wasn’t pleased with any of it. With that being said, if she’s not happy, no one else can be happy. If she’s not celebrating something, then it’s a task for her to even try to show up for someone else (Porsha’s gender reveal and shower for example), or be there without it being drama (Cynthia’s party). She has to be the center of everything. She can’t think outside of herself and her issues, and therefore, no one else should. So what better way to attempt to take someone at peak elation down a few pegs than to try and make them feel ugly while carrying their ultimate blessing? And what better way to try and get away with it than to coat malicious jibes as slight “shade”? The jig is up.
However, it shouldn’t be a surprise. If NeNe could publicly talk poorly about her own husband during his cancer battle when she should have focused on praying, it’s clear that she will tear down anyone else with ease. With that being said, while NeNe is out on her sympathy tour, looking for people to understand how utterly “BROKEN” she is by Cynthia’s “betrayal,” I hope someone asks her, straight up, what her issue is with glowing pregnant women, and why she’s so threatened not only by their beauty, but their happiness. Until she acknowledges that, everything else she has to say from here on out, for me, is null and void.
