Comedian Mo’Nique cleared up rumors that claimed she secured a peach for season 13 of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” replacing the OG reality star Nene Leakes.
Just last week, several news outlets reported that Mo’Nique and her husband, actor Sidney Hicks, would be joining the franchise for the upcoming season. Mo’Nique denied the allegations in a Wednesday, July 9 Instagram Live Story while she was preparing grilled watermelon steaks.
“I [wasn’t] gone say not a damn thing ’cause I knew it was a damn lie,” she said at the 2:44 mark. “But..I.. it keep on goin’ and goin’ and goin,’ ‘Monique, are you doing “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” and replacing Nene Leakes?’ Let me let it come straight from my mouth,” she said, followed by a bit of laughter. “No, my sweet babies, I am not doing “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” and in my humble opinion Nene Leakes is irreplaceable,” she stressed.
“Nene Leakes is “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” if you ask me, baby; that’s been 13 years. So no I am not joining that cast. Though, I respect all of those sistas. They do what they do and I am not replacing Nene Leakes,” she added.
“Ya’ll know. Ya’ll know my spirit couldn’t take it. I couldn’t do those confessions talkin’ about my sistas like that. So no my babies that.. I don’t know where that information came from. They said a source told them. I sure would like to f-cking meet source ’cause source be saying sh-t. Source just be saying sh-t. This source said, and that source said, source is a popular b-tch ’cause she know everybody’s business… ha ha ha. But if you mind your business, um.. if you mind your business… you ain’t got to even worry about it. But I just wanted to address that for you my sweet babies,” she explained before revealing that she recently met up with Nene.
“I just saw our sista Nene. I just saw her. We hugged up, laughed, her and Gregg [Gregg Leakes] were going for a walk. I just saw them sweet babies. So no ya’ll that was a total total total fabrication. You can use words like that when you’re grilling [watermelon] OK. You don’t even call that sh-t a lie. That was a fabrication.”
Blogger B. Scott reported toward the end of June that Nene was not offered a contract for the upcoming season and was fired from the hit reality show. Nene’s manager Steven Grossman shared in a statement that the gossip was inaccurate, insinuating that Bravo claims Nene can stay on the show for as long as she wants.
In 2015, the “Glee” actress left the hit reality show in season eight, but she returned as a full-time cast member in season 10. After watching Mo’Nique’s video, many people agreed that Nene is irreplaceable. One user said: “Nene is the show. Ratings dropped when she left the first time🤷🏽♀️.” OK Magazine confirmed that the season-eight premiere ratings were low following Nene’s departure.
