Last week details leaked form former Real Housewives of Atlanta star NeNe Leakes accusing Bravo of sabotaging her efforts to find gainful employment outside the franchise [click here if you missed that].
New details have emerged explaining how Bravo essentially forced NeNe off the show...
From Radar Online
In court documents, NeNe said the retaliation against her built up over time and reached a head in season 12.
She said the producers not only told her to wear a different color dress than the rest of the girls but they invited co-star Yovanna Momplaisir — despite NeNe telling them her presence would affect her mental health.
The reunion ended with NeNe walking off after being attacked by her other cast members.
NeNe said after the reunion she received a call from Bravo’s Executive Vice President, Production, Shari Levine.
The suit said Levine told NeNe she would have to sit out Season 13. “I want you to sit out for Season 13. You can come back on Season 14,” Shari allegedly said.
NeNe said she was shocked by the news especially since Andy Cohen previously said “RHOA is the house that NeNe built.”
She said she pressed for an explanation but was given “no answer that made any sense.” Later, she said Shari told her the reason was her reunion show walk-off.
“But this happens with some level of frequency, and the housewife is not typically banished. This excuse smacked of more differential treatment. Other (white) housewives have walked off reunion sets only to either return the next year or, alternatively, receive their own spin-off show. The call ended without any agreement or mutual understanding,” NeNe’s lawsuit argued.
One week later, NeNe said Shari called back to tell again she needed to sit out for Season 13. The star said she was offered a development deal for a show based on her Linnethia Lounge in Duluth, Georgia.
“This development deal came with a paltry one hundred- and fifty-thousand-dollar ($150,000) offer,” NeNe said. She was insulted.
In her suit, the reality star said she “begged” that if they were going to kick her off the show, “at least give her a sendoff that was appropriate in light of her years of service.”
NeNe said Shari “played dumb” acting like the “creative side of the network could not figure out how to do this.”
Eventually, the producers offered her the demotion of a “mere” 6 episodes in season 13.
Her lawyer said, “they still offered no legitimate explanation for why. Indeed, the varied explanations shifted with time. Initially, Mrs. Leakes was told that she needed to sit the season out because she had walked off the reunion show.”
