NeNe Leakes set to make her Bravo return five years after exiting Real Housewives of Atlanta

NeNe Leakes is planning a return to Bravo more than five years after leaving The Real Housewives of Atlanta.

The 58-year-old media personality, who claimed to have been 'pushed out' of the realty series in late 2020, is now gearing up to join The Real Housewives: Ultimate Road Trip.

Executive producer Andy Cohen announced the spinoff show during BravoCon in November, but didn't say who would round out the cast.

The show, which coincides with The Real Housewives' 20th anniversary, will feature cast members from multiple franchises.

Leakes will not be on the new show full-time, but will appear when the show stops in Atlanta, sources told TMZ.

Representatives for Leakes declined the Daily Mail's request for comment.

'I left because I was being pushed out,' Leakes claimed to Extra about her decision to leave RHOA in October 2020.

'If you are working at McDonald's, working 40 hours a week, they drop you down to 20 hours, they drop you down to 15, they drop you down to 10, it's obvious that they want you to quit.

'Something is very wrong with going from 18 or 23 episodes down to six… In the last four to five years, it has been less and less… Things just didn't feel fair,' she added.

She also told ET Online: 'I left the show. I had an offer on the table. I did not think the offer was a fair offer.'

Leakes announced on YouTube in September 2020 that she was leaving, months after the new season began filming.

She told her fans: 'I have been on an extremely, extremely long, exhausting, tiring, emotional negotiation. There has been a lot of emotion flying from both sides. It has been hard.

'And I have made the very hard and difficult decision to not be a part of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, Season 13. It wasn't an easy decision for me. It was hard.'

Bravo confirmed the news in a statement to Variety: 'We wish Nene all the best in her future endeavors and thank her for sharing her journey for over a decade with the fans of The Real Housewives of Atlanta.

'She's been instrumental since the start and will truly be missed, and maybe one day she'll hold the peach again.'

Leakes later told Extra, 'This is a conversation that [Cohen] and I and people involved are going to have to deal with behind the scenes. All I can do is take you back to one of my old sayings: 'I said what I said.''

She also discussed her conflicting emotions toward Cohen with ET Online, saying, 'Well, I thought that we had a relationship and a great relationship. But maybe we didn't. I don't know.

'You know, you don't turn off your feelings for someone because you had an argument. I've always loved Andy like he was a family member of mine. I worked with him for a very long time so I have a lot of love for him, so, you know, you can't just turn your feelings off because you had an argument.'

She added: 'I mean, again, I consider him to be like family, families argue. Families fight. Families come back together. I have nothing but love for him and I'm certain that we will talk. We just texted right after that happened.

'It is heavy. It's public and it's heavy. But, I'm gonna be fine. It's just a lot. You know, I'm gonna get through it.' 

In April 2022 the entrepreneur filed a federal lawsuit in April 2022 against Bravo and NBCUniversal, accusing the production companies of fostering a racist and hostile work environment.

All parties involved agreed to settle the conflict through arbitration and the case was dropped in August 2022.