Nene Leakes was rumored to be participating in The Traitors Season 4, but when the cast was announced, she was not among the confirmed names.
Now, in a new interview, the former Real Housewives of Atlanta star is corroborating that she was offered a place at the castle and explained why she ultimately declined to participate.
“I was asked to do Traitors — I was really excited about doing it, by the way,” Leakes said on the latest episode of the Humble Brag with Crystal and Cynthia podcast.
She added, “I couldn’t do Traitors because my son is in the hospital, and he’s still in the hospital. My son’s been in the hospital since May.”
Leakes’ son Brent had a stroke at 22 and recently had a heart transplant. The reality TV personality explained that “his heart started rejecting” the transplant and has been hospitalized to “stop the rejection.” Leakes said that he recently “turned a curve” and “has a little while longer” to recover.
“I’m so glad I said no,” Leakes said about declining the Traitors offer.
Leakes explained that when she was offered the show they gave her the production dates and she had initially thought her son would be better by the time filming came around.
“I kept thinking maybe Brent would be much better [by June],” she added. “My fear was committing and then having to go back to them and say, I can’t do it. So that was never going to work. Brent was very sick. It was no way I could have committed to it. And I believe you have to go out of the country [to film the show].”
Leakes saw her casting on The Traitors as a chance “to do all these great things and come back really strong” but it was not going to happen with her son in the hospital.
The Glee alum also mentioned rumors on social media that claimed she declined the Peacock competition series due to the check not being big enough.
“No, no, no. I got the check,” Leakes said. “If Brent had been in the place that he’s in today, I would have went. We can FaceTime. He’s talking. He wasn’t walking at the time. Now he’s walking, he’s talking.”
The cast of The Traitors Season 4 includes Real Housewives stars like Porsha Williams (Atlanta), Caroline Stanbury (Dubai), Candiace Dillard Bassett (Potomac), Lisa Rinna (Beverly Hills), and Dorinda Medley (New York City), who was featured on The Traitors Season 3.
Other stars part of the series include Donna Kelce, the mother of NFL stars Travis and Jason Kelce, Love Island USA’s Rob Rausch and Maura Higgins, as well as Johnny Weir, Tara Lipinski, and more.
