NeNe Leakes hit her breaking point with Marlo Hampton — and the world — amid her husband’s cancer battle in a tense episode of The Real Housewives of Atlanta.
The screaming match between The Real Housewives of Atlanta star and her longtime friend turned physical in Sunday’s all-new episode of the Bravo reality series at Leakes’ natural hair party.
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Tensions were already high for NeNe, whose husband Gregg had been readmitted to the hospital after undergoing surgery related to his cancer diagnosis.
“Gregg was discharged from the hospital, but when I picked him up from the hospital, he was limping on one leg. He cannot walk,” NeNe recalled to the camera. “He decided he would call his doctor, and she said, ‘Oh my God, he has a blood clot in his leg, we need to readmit him to the hospital.’”
Despite feeling “horrible” about the dangerous new diagnosis, NeNe decided to press forward with the party she had planned, and Gregg asked Marlo and Cynthia Bailey to check in on his wife to make sure she was holding it all together. Marlo even drove across town to try and talk to NeNe in a move that would backfire on her later.
From the start, NeNe was definitely on edge, slamming pregnant Porsha Williams and Marlo as “tacky” for being late to the party in a move that even shocked co-star Kandi Burruss.
When Marlo did show up, NeNe was quick to confront her for what she saw as aggressive “arguing” and text messages that accompanied her checking in at Gregg’s request.
“If you have a friend who’s in pain and hurting, how do you come to them yelling and fussing?” NeNe shouted at Marlo, who returned in like kind, “I want you to take this more seriously, because it’s bothering me. I was in tears. I don’t know with the way depression is in this word, people are committing suicide. I don’t know what’s your breaking point.”
NeNe screamed back, “Marlo support me b—, don’t f—ing fight me. I’m going through every pain. I am your sister, b—, I’m going with a lot of things.”
Breaking down and sobbing, NeNe’s friends circled around her in shock at the display of emotion.
“I have definitely seen NeNe go from zero to 100, but this is a total breakdown,” Williams told the camera. “This is probably NeNe at her most vulnerable state.”
“I’m not a devastated person,” NeNe sobbed. “You know I don’t break down in front of people.”
She confessed later to the camera, “I’m at my breaking point. I feel like people don’t understand. They don’t get it.”
While NeNe and Marlo were able to make up after diffusing the tension from the situation, NeNe was still struggling as the party came to an end and the fellow Housewives started poking around in her closet, followed in close tow by cameras.
Grabbing a cameraman by his shirt and pulling him back, the lighthearted mood shifted immediately, as NeNe threatened to “f— [them] up” if they didn’t leave.
The shaky footage cut out at the end, so fans will have to tune in next week to see how the dramatic scene played out.
The Real Housewives of Atlanta airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.
Photo credit: Marcus Ingram/WireImage
