Nene Leakes Net Worth

Nene Leakes is known for her outspoken, no-nonsense demeanor and frank attitude; simply put, she enjoys cracking jokes. As an actor, she’s best known for her role on the reality television series The Real Housewives of Atlanta (RHOA), broadcast by the Bravo Cable TV network–the series is currently on its 14th season.

Nene Leakes is also a recognized face on Fox Entertainment, playing Roz Washington in a comedy-drama Glee; she was paid $10,000 per episode.

What is Nene Leakes’ Net Worth?

As of 2022, the 55-year-old reality TV star Nene Leakes’ net worth is $15 million. The original cast member of The Real Housewives of Atlanta reality TV series was able to command a lucrative contract at US$1 million per season, plus other bonuses, including a Reunion show in each of the season finales at $250,000. Leakes was the highest-paid Bravo Housewife in the 2015 season. In the 2007 season, Nene Leakes was paid $1.5 million.

In Fox’s comedy-drama series, Glee Nene Leakes reportedly earned $10,000 per episode. Nene Leakes also has many other gigs that added to her net worth, including Broadway, sitcom, clothing line, and her own TV production company.

The Story of Nene Leakes And Her Personal Life

Nene Leakes’ real name is Linnethia Monique Johnson born in Queens, New York City, on December 13, 1967. Nene Leakes is a television personality, actress, presenter, author, and entrepreneur

Since Leakes was born doesn’t know who her biological father is. Growing up, she thought the man, Mr. Curtis, with whose mother had a relationship, was her biological father. Leakes attempted to search for her birth father but was in vain.

Nene Leakes has four siblings. Due to difficulties, at a young age, Leakes and one of her brothers were sent to live with an aunt in Athens, Georgia, who she very much considered a mother figure.

Nene Leakes became a single mother at 16 and worked as a model while attending Clarke Central High School in Athens. Leakes continued her formal education at Morris Brown College in Atlanta. While in college, she met a businessman named Gregg Leakes at 21. Unfortunately, Leakes had to drop out of college and attend only two years due to pregnancy.

Nene Leakes and Gregg Leakes married in 1997, and they had a son together named Brentt. Before his marriage with Nene, Gregg had five children from his previous relationship, including twins Damien and Daryl Leakes. Leakes shared the same roof with her stepchildren.

Nene Leakes’ Career on the Screen

Nene Leakes landed her first minor role as a stripper in a 2003’s comedy film, The Fighting Temptations starring Cuba Gooding Jr. and Beyoncé.

In 2004 Nene Leakes appeared on a sitcom series, The Parker, where she met Robi Reed-Hume, the casting director of The Parker show. Through Reed-Hume, Leakes was introduced to producers of The Real Housewives of Atlanta when Leakes’ career on the TV screen started taking off.

Leakes was a leading cast member of The Real Housewives of Atlanta. The first season aired in 2008, and Leakes negotiated an impressive salary of $750,000 per season and an additional increase of $250,000 in the following years. After Leakes’ first season, she co-wrote her biography entitled Never Make the Same Mistake Twice with author Denene Millner where Leakes shared her life story through thick and thin with humorous touches.

After being a prominent cast member for seven seasons, Leakes announced it’d be her last. According to her doctor, Dr. Jeff Gardere stated, Leakes had traumatic pasts and abandonment issues; it became too much for her to handle. Leakes’ cast member chipped in that Leakes confided ‘that her mother had five children at a young age and gave Leakes and her brother up to live with her aunt. Leakes revealed that she never knew why her mom chose her to leave.’ Leakes later returned as the Bravo Housewife from the 10th season through to the 12th season.

Following her departure, Leakes transitioned into scripted TV in NBC’s 2013’s sitcom The New Normal playing a character named Rocky Rhoades. In 2011, Leakes was a contestant in an American television reality competition of NBC’s series Celebrity Apprentice hosted by the tycoon Donald Trump in the 11th installment. During the 10th episode, Leakes had harsh exchanges with a fellow cast member, Star Jones. After the quarrel, Leakes stormed off the show. Some fans of the Celebrity Apprentice made humorous jokes that Leakes wanted to avoid Donald Trump’s infamous phrase ‘you’re fired!’

In 2013, Leakes guest-hosted with another celebrity Rosie O’Donnell on CNN’s Anderson Live and appeared in NBC’s comedy series Betty White’s Off Their Rockers, Jimmy Kimmel Show, and was a contestant in a game show The Price is Right. When asked what her favorite shows were, she said Jimmy Kimmel Live, VH1 Divas Live 2009, and The Bonnie Hunt Show were her top 5.

In ABC’s 18th Dancing with the Stars season, Leakes was invited to compete with other celebrities. She paired with a professional dancer Tony Dovolani. They finished in 7th place on week 7 of the competition.

Nene Leakes & Gregg Leakes

To some, the relationship between Nene and Gregg might come across as amusing or bizarre. The real estate investor Gregg Leakes already had five children before his marriage to Nene. The couple separated in 2010 due to different expectations; their divorce finalized in 2011.

However, less than two years later, the couple announced they were back together and engaged in 2013. A program service of NBCUniversal, Bravo filmed the couple’s wedding planning and ceremony for a spin-off of The Real Housewives of Atlanta entitled I Dream of NeNe: The Wedding. NeNe and Gregg remarried on June 22, 2013, at the InterContinental Buckhead Hotel in Atlanta.

Five years after they remarried, in 2018, Nene Leakes announced her husband had stage 3 colon color. The family was filled with joy when Gregg was cancer-free a year later, in 2009. However, cancer didn’t vanish permanently; Gregg Leakes passed away from colon cancer in 2021 at the age of 66.,

Lawsuit

In 2022, the 55-year-old Leakes filed a discrimination lawsuit against NBCUniversal, Bravo, True Entertainment company, Truly Original company, and executive producers of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, including Andy Cohen, who made her a millionaire. As mentioned earlier, the federal lawsuit accuses the entities of allowing racist activity to continue during the scope of the filming. The legal documents stated, “NBC, Bravo, and True foster a corporate and workplace culture in which racially-insensitive and inappropriate behavior is tolerated — if not, encouraged.” As of writing, the parties are currently in talks to settle the lawsuit outside of court.

Nene Leakes’ Other Ventures

In 2006, she toured the US in a one-woman comedy tour called So Nasty, So Mean. Since the tour started, many of her shows were sold out. In 2004 she launched her own fashion line called Nene Leakes Collection. She also founded a TV production company named Nene Leakes Entertainment and SWAGG boutiques in Maryland, Georgia, and Miami. However, it’s unclear how successful those ventures were. According to news reports, the current lawsuit had caused many show businesses to hesitate to do business with her.

Leaves mansion in Georgia, which she purchased with her now deceased husband in 2015 for $2 million. Leakes put up the home for sale the same month Gregg Leakes died of colon cancer. The price was originally listed on the open market for $2.1 million; after two massive price cuts of $505,000, she found a buyer for $3.495 million, a very neat profit nonetheless. After selling her first home in Georgia, Leakes purchased a modest home in Duluth, Minnesota, for $260,000.

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