Nene Leakes, Shares her Highs, Lows and Lessons Learned for HelloBeautiful

HelloBeautiful.com, a digital content property owned by iONE Digital has released its first digital cover of the new year featuring reality TV star and actress Nene Leakes. In this HelloBeautiful cover feature, Leakes discussed her time being one of the original cast members of the iconic Real Housewives of Atlanta. She shared details about the role she played on the show and how the fans perceive her after her time on Real Housewives of Atlanta.

“I know all the things that I did [on Housewives]. And I know all of the memes that are out there. I know when real housewives started, I was the OG. I was the one that was there pushing and making every scene, as much as I could, a great scene.” said Leakes “ I know the work that was put in behind the scenes that the people who are viewing the show, just don't know. I can't call myself a queen [of the housewives and reality tv] but I see why people call me that and I received it.” 

While speaking about her time on Real Housewives of Atlanta, the actress also spoke about finding happiness after the death of her husband of over 20 years, Greg Leakes. Greg passed in 2021 after a long battle with colon cancer.

"I am happy. I am certainly not sad, certainly not depressed. I'm happy. I always feel like you can be happier. There's a few other things that I want in my life. I want deep love with someone and hopefully we bring each other more happiness"

Nene also provided her perspective about the beauty standards in Hollywood and the pressure to keep up with trends that are constantly changing.

“Being in the industry and being a public figure, it’s definitely pressure there to look beautiful, look your best, stay small, look healthy, all of those things and keep up with the latest trends. There's definitely pressure there to do that. I felt that pressure myself.”

Editorial Credits:

Photographer: Dalvin Adams  

Cover Story: Danielle Young 

Editorial Director of Style & Beauty: Shamika Sanders 

VP of Content: Kirsten West Savali 

SVP of Content: Allison McGevna 

Digi Tech: David Morico  

Photo Assistant: Elvis Piedra 

Makeup Artist: La'Tara Deshazior  

Hair Stylist: Terrence Davidson 

Wardrobe Stylist: Shaq Palmer 

BTS Video: Khomari Flash & Clifford Johnson  

Creative Director: Jordan Benston  

Production Company: The Oracle Media  

Production Team: Maisha Peace, Brooke Langley, Kyree West, Jasmine Hardy, Tyanna Seton 

Location: Studio Space Atlanta