After much speculation, NeNe Leakes has responded to rumors that she would be returning to film Season 17 of The Real Housewives of Atlanta.
“They have NEVER offered me to return. Good luck to the season 17 cast. We will be watching,” she wrote via Instagram.
NeNe’s fallout with Bravo came after she accused the network and Bravo executive Andy Cohen of racial discrimination.
NeNe was one of the original cast members who joined the first season in 2008, but claimed that she was offered a diminished role in season 13, as a form of retaliation for voicing concerns about racially insensitive behavior by co-star Kim Zolciak-Biermann.
Nene confirms she wasn’t offered to return for #RHOA Season 17. pic.twitter.com/UoZWtU6Zwf
— The RHOA Talk (@TheRhoaTalk) August 13, 2025
In April 2022, the former Bravolebrity filed a lawsuit against Bravo, NBCUniversal, and Cohen, alleging that they fostered a racially hostile work environment and retaliated against her for speaking out.
The lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice in August 2022, allowing for the possibility of refiling in the future.
NeNe has stated several times this year that she would be open to returning to the show.
“If I were to ever step back on that platform, would I be friend? I really kind of feel like I don’t know that I would be a friend. … I just would think, NeNe, season 1, the first Housewife, and I’m a friend? I don’t know,” she said last month on Cynthia Bailey and Crystal Kung-Minkoff’s Humble Brag podcast.
Former Housewives, Kim Zolciak-Biermann and Sheree Whitfield have reportedly been invited back.