Money has apparently talked.
And now NeNe Leakes is ready to walk…
… back to the show that made her famous.
Indeed, following reports that Leakes was being offered $ 2.5 million to return to The Real Housewives of Atlanta, the veteran reality star has come out and confirmed the not-so-shocking news.
She’ll be a mostly full-time cast member on Season 10.
And she’ll be making her return with an eye on reclaiming the show’s most prominent throne.
“It’s been a long process but we’ve finally reached an agreement! All hail the Queen for season 10 of #RHOA @bravotv #thethreatisback,” Leakes wrote on Instagram as a caption to the photo below.
As you’re about to see, it includes a crown, a champagne glass and a decent amount of cleavage:
In a second Instagram message shared on Wednesday night, Leakes appeared to talk some smack to her impending co-stars, writing:
Got my eyes closed thinking bout how imma get you bitches together! Let’s go #RHOA #thethreatisback #Queen #eatmypeach.
A source close to production says Leakes will appear “in a majority of the season’s episodes.
NeNe left the series after Season 7, but made a brief return during season 8 after Cynthia Bailey arranged a reunion to reunite with her friend and mending their broken relationship.
Although she wasn’t seen on camera at all during Season 9, Leakes was clearly among those who tuned in to watch The Real Housewives of Atlanta online or on television each week.
Earlier this spring, Phaedra Parks was fired from the program after admitting that she spread a rumor about Kandi Burruss and Porsha Williams.
During a reunion special, Parks confessed to telling Porsha that Kandi and her husband had schemed to drug and sexually assault her.
Asked by Andy Cohen about this development, Leakes held little back in slamming Parks.
“Phaedra been doing this bullshit for a very long time,” she said on an episode of Watch What Happens Live, adding at the time:
“Phaedra did the exact same thing to me, as we already discussed before, years ago on the show when she first came on. She tried to take me down and it didn’t work…
“Phaedra’s been doing stuff like this, she just got caught.”
NeNe won’t have Phaedra around on Season 10 to feud with, but this is just an example of how she’s unafraid to speak her mind.
Since ending her Housewives run a couple years ago, Leakes has appeared on The New Normal, The Celebrity Apprentice and Dancing With the Stars season 8, where she was eliminated fifth after competing with pro partner Tony Dovolani.
She also starred on Broadway, debuting as Madame in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella in 2014; and appearing in 2015 as Matron “Mama” Morton in Chicago.
She’s actually gone on to a rather impressive career, perhaps the most successful of any Real Housewife in terms of mainstream notoriety.
But she was reportedly paid $ 1 million for her Season 7 role on the show.
If these new claims are accurate, she has received a raise of $ 1.5 million for Season 10.
Moreover, Kim Zolciak is also set to return to The Real Housewives of Atlanta.
So between a hefty pay increase and the chance to go at it with her long-time rival once more, is it any wonder why Leakes arrived at this decision?
