Kenya Moore may no longer be holding a peach, but the Real Housewives of Atlanta alum is still stirring things up between NeNe Leakes and Cynthia Bailey — who may not be as innocent as she seems.
After exiting the Bravo show after Season 10 amid rumored contract disputes, Moore made an appearance on the RHOA Season 11 finale Sunday in a way that may have led to the end of Leakes’ friendship with Bailey.
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While Leakes and Moore ended their last season on a good note, Leakes told Marlo Hampton that her former co-star had been intentionally stirring up drama in the press and on social media to get attention, to the extent that she excluded her from her October baby shower.
“All of that was news to my ears, because the last time I saw Kenya, we were taking pictures together,” Leakes told Hampton. “Nothing happened between us, she’s being strategic … This is a fake beef all for attention.”
In addition to Bailey hanging around Moore regularly, Leakes said the model has failed to stand up for her, all while being “so quick to check us” if they make a comment about Moore.
“It makes me upset, because I’m really dealing with a lot right now,” Leakes said of husband Gregg’s cancer diagnosis and their ongoing relationship problems.
Bailey, on the other hand, told Kandi Burrus that she didn’t know where all the animosity between her two friends came from, but, “Whatever it is, I don’t want to be in the middle of it.”
That wasn’t about to happen, however, with Moore showing up and stealing the scene immediately at Bailey’s drink launch event, much to Leakes’ annoyance at not being informed.
“I feel like NeNe saw Kenya and immediately got pissed at Cynthia,” Porsha Williams told the camera. “Because I could tell she did not know Kenya was coming, so that means her close friend Cynthia did not give her the head’s up.”
NeNe thought it was “just another way to be a f—ed up friend, as far as I’m concerned,” getting emotional off to the side of the party.
While Bailey had claimed to not know if Moore would attend her event, producers aired audio of a conversation she had with Burruss nailing down the “set up” of Moore showing up to start something with Leakes.
“I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page, setting up how Kenya got there,” Cynthia told Burruss, who warned her she was mic’d.
Leakes appeared not to know about the audio, however, when she confronted Bailey about their declining friendship.
“You don’t call your sister and tell her? You didn’t think that was as big of an issue?” Leakes asked her. “[I’m] your sister who you are really with. This is the sister you talk to five or 10 times a day. You don’t do that to her!”
“I never knew if Kenya was going to come or not until Kenya walked in the door. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal,” Bailey replied. “You were clearly irritated about the shower. The last thing I want to do is tell you that Kenya’s going and her not even show up to even go down that road.”
When pressed further, Bailey stood strong in her decision to invite Moore.
“This is my event NeNe,” she told her friend. “This was my event. I can invite anybody to my event! The only thing I wanted was for my friends to come on my night. But I didn’t think for one second that you couldn’t be big enough to be in a room with Kenya.”
Unfortunately for the longtime friends, this appears to be the end of their relationship, with Leakes unfollowing all the cast members on Instagram after the reunion filming and opening up about the friendship on Instagram Live earlier this month.
“Cynthia did something in the finale that just doesn’t work for me. You won’t see everything but I think you will get the point,” Leakes said. “There were some other things… I asked her a lot of stuff and she lied and lied and lied and lied. ‘Til finally, this finale really shows the sneaky, underhanded, Cynthia Bailey.”
“I don’t have no hate in my heart for Cynthia,” she continued. “We are co-workers from this day forward. I don’t have any reason not to speak to her, I’m happy to not speak to her. I’m happy to speak to her. But anything else further than that, it’s not going to happen. No. We are coworkers.”
The Real Housewives of Atlanta reunion begins Sunday, April 7 at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.
Photo credit: Bravo
