It has been years since NeNe Leakes filed one of the most talked-about lawsuits in reality television history, and even longer since her relationship with Andy Cohen was anything resembling uncomplicated. But in a recent interview, the 58-year-old Real Housewives of Atlanta veteran made something clear. She is not holding onto the past, and if Cohen wants to rebuild what was broken between them, she is ready for that conversation.
Leakes revealed that the two have exchanged text messages since she dropped her discrimination lawsuit against Bravo in 2022, though they have not spoken face to face since then. She framed the next step as Cohen’s decision to make, describing herself as someone who moves through conflict rather than settling into it. Time, she said, has a way of doing the work that pride and anger cannot.
What NeNe’s lawsuit was actually about
In 2022, Leakes filed a lawsuit against Bravo, its parent company and Cohen, alleging that the network had fostered and tolerated a hostile and racist work environment. The suit centered on claims that a co-star had directed racist comments at Leakes over the course of their time together on RHOA and that network leadership, including Cohen, had dismissed her complaints rather than addressing them.
Leakes had been a central figure on Real Housewives of Atlanta for ten seasons between 2008 and 2020, making her one of the franchise’s most recognizable and longest-tenured cast members. The lawsuit represented a significant rupture not just between Leakes and the network but between Leakes and the public-facing identity of a franchise she had helped build.
Four months after filing, she dropped the case. The reasons were never fully explained publicly, and the legal chapter closed without resolution on the record.
Cohen’s response and what comes next
Cohen addressed the situation briefly in a separate recent interview, describing the lawsuit as something in the past that he could not speak to directly. His public posture has largely been one of looking forward rather than revisiting the specific allegations, a stance that mirrors what Leakes herself has now articulated.
What makes the current moment notable is that both parties appear to be signaling openness without either one forcing the issue. Leakes has made clear she bears no ongoing resentment. Cohen, for his part, has spoken warmly about her return to the Bravo universe.
Earlier this year, Cohen told his radio audience that he was genuinely pleased Leakes would appear in the upcoming installment of The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: Roaring 20th, a special marking two decades of the franchise. He described her presence as meaningful to a celebration that would feel incomplete without one of its most defining personalities.
Leakes responded publicly with visible emotion, saying her return to Bravo had been a long journey and that she was overjoyed in a way she could barely put into words. She also took a moment to thank Cohen and other executives for continuing to keep her name in the conversation during the years of distance between them.
A Bravo celebration with familiar faces
The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: Roaring 20th is set to air later this year and brings together a wide cast of franchise veterans from across multiple cities and seasons. The lineup includes several of the most recognizable names from the Housewives universe, spanning different eras of the franchise’s history.
Leakes’ inclusion places her back in a world she helped shape at its earliest and most formative stage. Whether that return leads to a fuller reconciliation with Cohen remains to be seen, but for the first time in years, both parties seem to be facing the same direction.
For Leakes, the message is simple. She does not require a close friendship. She does not need things to return to exactly what they once were. She simply refuses to carry what no longer serves her forward, and she is leaving space for something better to grow in its place.
