The haters can't deny that Real Housewives of Atlanta star NeNe Leakes has finally arrived. Now the reality star/actress has decided to address the haters who are criticizing Ebony Magazine for putting her on the cover of their Most Powerful Issue issue.
Check out some highlights from her interview with The Daily Beast below...
On the criticism of her Ebony Magazine cover
I absolutely deserve to be on the cover. This cover is about money, power, and respect. And it’s about a come-up story and I’m the one that had that story this year … Not only did I come out as a reality star that was very boisterous and vivacious and outspoken and all those things. I flipped that into money and respect. And a lot of people can’t do that.
On only getting negative feedback from her own race
But listen to me, definitely all of the negative feedback definitely came from my own; African Americans were the ones that were the most negative, and it’s so funny to me because I would call [the editor] over at Ebony and she would say ‘Girl please, glass houses. That’s all it is. They don’t want to see you on the cover, they don’t really understand the reason why you’re on the cover, they don’t know your story.’
On Why She Is Different From Other Reality Stars
There are a lot of girls on these reality shows who are on there for the purpose of fame. That was never my story. I’m on there for money, because I wanted to be able take care of my family.’
On Why The Real Housewives of Atlanta Is More Influential Than The Hundreds of Clones That Soon Followed
When Housewives of Atlanta first came out, there were no Basketball Wives, there was no Hip Hop Wives, no Hollywood Exes, none of that stuff. When Real Housewives of Atlanta came out, we were the first African-American ensemble like that on reality television. And right after that, there’s every housewife you can think of: basketball, football, baseball, ex-wives, any and everything. Trust and believe, I’ve looked at their shows and I say, ‘there goes their NeNe’ or ‘they’re trying to find their NeNe.’ I swear I feel like that every time.
I have to be honest—I really do love trash television but out of all these reality shows, I always say the difference between those shows and the Real Housewives franchise is, the one thing about our franchise is, you have to have a story line. They want you to be out trying to open up a business, or putting out a product. They want that. On those shows they go from gossiping to gossip.
On her success being no different than Kim Kardashian’s
It’s true and I know you’ve heard it a million times, [African Americans] just don’t support one another, But it’s OK for you to go pick up a magazine cover with Kim Kardashian. She’s my girl. We are cool. We talk. We do drinks and all of that. But her story ain’t no different than mine. You know what I mean? I might’ve worked at the strip club, but she made a sex tape.
On Life After Realty TV
“Reality TV is not going to be around always,” Leakes says. “Hell, I ain’t going to be on there always. So I try to think about my future … I need to do everything that I can possibly do because I’m not interested in always being a reality star. I mean, who wants to do that all the time? It will wear you out, child.”
Last week when NeNe was a guest co-host on Anderson Live (Rosie O' Donnell filled in while Anderson was covering the recent Israeli bombing overseas), she made an announcement that next fall she will be hosting a new talk show with Rosie in Fall, 2013. While I think they were joking, NeNe has said that she would love to do a daytime talk show a la The View along with Kelly Osbourne, Khloe Kardashian, and a male co-host (I'm available for that male slot, BTW).
I'm not shocked at all that most of the vitriol would come from the Black community, because it's always your own kind that will have that crabs in a barrel mentality and hate on your success first before anyone else. I am a NeNe fan because she is entertaining and always brings it whenever the cameras start rolling, and you can't hate on someone who has the balls to follow her dreams and make them happen, while everyone else is at home spewing their fire and brimstone in front of their keyboard. Everyone isn't going to be happy for your success, so all you can do is keep going and find other ways to expand your 15 minutes into a brand.
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