NeNe Leakes is putting her bad blood with Kim Zolciak-Biermann on hold to support her former Bravo costar through her divorce from Kroy Biermann.
“I just reached out to her because she reached out to me during a time when I was really going through something,” NeNe, 55, told TMZ on Wednesday, July 5, seemingly referring to the September 2021 death of her husband, Gregg Leakes.
While NeNe noted that she doesn’t know how Zolciak-Biermann, 45, “is doing overall,” she told the outlet, “I would have to think she’s taking it hard. I mean, it’s a divorce. It’s not easy.”
News broke on May 8 that Zolciak-Biermann filed for divorce from Biermann, 37, after 11 years of marriage. The couple’s separation comes amid financial woes, as it was reported in May that the pair allegedly owes the IRS $1.1 million in unpaid taxes, penalties and interest.
Zolciak-Biermann — who shares sons Kroy “KJ” Jr., 12, Kash, 10, and twins Kaia and Kane, 9, with her ex, as well as daughters Brielle, 26, and Ariana, 21 from previous relationships — starred alongside NeNe on seasons 1 through 5 of RHOA and later returned as a “friend” of the series for season 10 in 2017.
Years of drama between NeNe and Zolciak-Biermann came to a head in October 2017 after Brielle shared a video of cockroaches she saw on NeNe’s bathroom floor. NeNe accused the then-20-year-old of being “racist” upon sharing the video via her Instagram and called Zolciak-Biermann a “trashy mom.”
“We don’t have roaches! If you found 1, u brought it with u or it fell outta yo funky p—y!” NeNe wrote alongside the since-deleted clip. “Please know I will get You all the way together when you start f–king wit [sic] me and mine!”
Zolciak-Biermann then defended her daughter’s actions via her own Instagram, clarifying that Brielle had shown the video to no one except her and that she did nothing wrong. “She never posted this video nor would she!” she wrote at the time. “As you see here I myself was not willing to send the video just for ratings for RHOA. END OF STORY.”
Zolciak-Biermann later noted on a March 2018 episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen that Brielle took the video to poke fun at her mom’s fear of bugs. “I was so mad when [NeNe] was accusing me of those things — fake stroke, fake whatever — so I sent the video,” she told host Andy Cohen. “I’m definitely not racist. I don’t associate whatever — roach, spider — whatever [with race] in my mind.”
While Zolciak-Biermann apologized for their social media feud the following month, she continued to accuse NeNe of being a liar. “We both know the truth, we both know that if I wanted to, I could have a lawsuit for the lies you have spewed, tweeting out fake texts, implying I am racist, attacking me physically, claiming my daughter tweeted negative about you and your home, we both know these are lies,” she captioned a Instagram pic of them from the RHOA season 10 reunion.
NeNe is not the only RHOA star to send Zolciak-Biermann well-wishes amid her and Biermann’s messy split. “It’s awful to hear the news of them getting a divorce. I was super surprised,” Marlo Hampton said during a May appearance on WWHL. “The only thing I could say there … a whole bunch of prayers are needed and a CPA is needed. That’s it.”
Last month, Shereé Whitfield said she was “shocked” by the former couple’s breakup and that she thought they were “going to be [together] forever.” She added: “I’ve been in contact with her, and she’s not doing well. She’s not doing well. No, she’s taking it really bad.”
Zolciak-Biermann is set to make a return on the July 9 episode of RHOA to reunite with Whitfield, 53, Lisa Wu and DeShawn Snow. NeNe, for her part, left the series for good after season 12 in 2020.
