Nene Leakes called out former Real Housewives of Atlanta co-star Porsha Williams for claiming they had issues and refusing to work with her on the upcoming Netflix comedy series, The Upshaws.
“Earlier this week, I was told by my management company that the Netflix scripted series The Upshaws was interested in casting me for a part,” the 56-year-old said on Friday, March 15, at the beginning of a series of Instagram Story posts.
The RHOA alum explained that the series starred Mike Epps and Wanda Sykes, and Kim Fields directed the episode where she would participate. Leakes was excited to do it since her reality castmate would also be on the show.
“I haven’t seen Porsha. We always have a good laugh when we see each other, so I was like, ‘Ok, Porsha and I are going to kill this part,’” Leakes said.
Leakes arrived in Los Angeles on Tuesday and was immediately transported to the studio for the wardrobe department. She chose a silver ensemble but agreed to select a different outfit because the initial one resembled Williams’ outfit. The episode rehearsals arrived, and Leakes attended but didn’t see Williams. Instead, they had a shoo-in.
“Porsha never came,” the Glee actress stated. “We wrapped for the evening. I went back to my hotel, and when I got to my hotel, production called me and asked me if I had any issues with any housewives because they were going to be recasting the other position.”
Leaks affirmed she had no issues with any of the Housewives. The Upshaws‘ executives ultimately reassigned the role to Cynthia Bailey, another of her former castmates.
To her disappointment, Leakes uncovered why the 42-year-old reality star’s role was reassigned.
“I was later told that Porsha did not show up to work and had said that she did not want to work with me. That we had had issues from the past, and she did not want to work with me,” Leakes claimed, emphasizing how disappointing it was to hear it.
Leakes said she couldn’t fathom why Williams would tell the producers they had issues when they’ve gone on double dates, hung out at each other’s houses, and went on vacations together, like Miami and Dubai.
“I am shocked to hear that Porsha would go to a production company and say that she doesn’t want to work with me because we’ve had a lot of issues in the past,” Leakes continued. “What lots of issues did we have in the past?”
Leakes said they’ve had petty problems but worked through them.
Before filming the video of her ranting, the 56-year-old reality television star said she texted Williams to get to the bottom of the situation. She said that her now-nemesis texted back about her not reaching out to her “little sis” while she was going through her divorce.
Williams announced she was divorcing Simon Guobadia in February after 15 months of marriage.
Leakes explained that Williams and Guobadia were all smiles in Dubai. She saw they had a fight but assumed they would work it out and refrained from being nosy and prying into her private matters.
She exclaimed she had gone to bat for WIlliams to remain on RHOA during her divorce from Kordell Stewart and felt betrayed that Williams would do something like this.
“The bottom line is that Porsha did not want to share the spotlight. That’s it. Professionals can share the spotlight. Porsha is not a star. She is a Bravolebrity. Be clear,” Leakes concluded.
