Getty NeNe Leakes' son has suffered a stroke and heart attack.
The 23-year-old son of former “Real Housewives of Atlanta” star NeNe Leakes suffered a major health emergency in late September, the TV personality and entrepreneur confirmed on October 10.
Here’s what you need to know:
Brentt Leakes, the Son of RHOA Star NeNe Leakes, Had ‘Congestive Heart Failure & a Stroke’
TMZ was first to report that 23-year-old Brentt Leakes “suffered both a heart attack and a stroke” and was “quickly transported to a local hospital.”
He was in the hospital for “several days” but has since been released and is “rehabbing” and “everyone is hopeful he will make a full recovery,” the outlet reported.
NeNe took to Instagram shortly after the news broke and gave an update on her son’s condition in a series of videos, saying the medical emergency occurred on September 26. She said she’s not revealing where her son currently is.
“This is not the way I wanted it to come out,” NeNe said in an Instagram Story posted on Monday, October 10. “We wanted to be able to talk about it ourselves when Brentt was in a better place, so here I am, because I would rather the correct thing be out there than something that’s not correct. Two weeks ago today, Brentt had congestive heart failure and a stroke. He’s only 23. So he’s really young for something like that to happen to him.
“It was very scary. I don’t even want to go into details of what happened and how I found out and what condition he was in. Obviously a stroke is a very serious thing,” she said.
She explained that doctors are working to find the cause so they can treat it. Congestive heart failure is a long-term condition in which the heart isn’t able to pump blood throughout the body adequately.
“The first thing, you know, a lot of doctors think of when someone that age comes in with that kind of condition is maybe they have done drugs or maybe they have some serious infection, maybe HIV or some sort of infection is what I’m being told by the doctors,” she said. “Brentt doesn’t drink or do drugs. And obviously, they’ve tested him for all of those things. They also tested him for HIV. They were thinking that maybe he had caught COVID and he didn’t know that he had COVID.”
She explained that Brentt was struggling to speak but had FaceTimed her and was “in good spirits.”
She also noted that several years ago she had blood clots in her lungs “and we could not figure out where it came from. So they’re thinking that maybe Brentt was born with some sort of disease or something with his heart since he was a kid and it just never showed up until now,” she said.
NeNe also said that while it remains open for now, they may need to sell The Linnethia Lounge (Linnethia is her first name), which she and Brentt own and run together in Duluth, Georgia. She called the lounge “his pride and joy” and invited interested buyers to contact her.
“We are just shocked, just shocked. But I thank all of you guys for your prayers,” she said in the video.
Heavy reached out to NeNe’s rep for further comment.
Brentt was featured on RHOA several times and has shared many videos on social media of himself with his famous mom. In a recent TikTok video, he did a skit with NeNe and captioned the video, “name a better mother son duo I’ll wait.”
Fans rallied around NeNe and Brentt and offered their support via comments on social media.
“Oh poor lad sending love to the family,” one person wrote on Instagram. Another fan wrote, “Oh my goodness. God bless you and speedy recovery.”
“Sending ♥️♥️ to @neneleakes and her family,” another fan wrote.
Several fans commented on a separate Instagram post.
“Lord! God please be with him and their family! He’s too young!” one wrote.
“I pray he is healed. Causs Nene aint gon make it if she loses her baby,” another fan commented. Another wrote, “That’s scary … I never heard of someone in their early 20s having a heart attack. Speedy healing.”
Brentt’s Father Gregg Leakes Died in 2021 After a Long Battle With Cancer
In late 2021, Gregg Leakes lost his battle with cancer, which he was first diagnosed with in June 2018. In August 2021 NeNe said that Gregg was “transitioning to the other side.” His death was announced on September 1.
“Today the Leakes family is in deep pain with a broken heart. After a long battle with cancer, Gregg Leakes has passed away peacefully in his home surrounded by all of his children, very close loved ones and wife Nene Leakes,” publicist and family friend Ernest Dukes said in a statement, according to Entertainment Tonight when the death was made public. “We ask that you pray for peace and strength over their family & allow them to mourn in private during this very very difficult time.”
Shortly before his death, Brentt shared his thoughts.
“Spend time with your loved ones every chance you get,” Brentt wrote on a since-expired Instagram Story, according to The Shade Room. “Time is so…valuable dog. I can’t express it. I’m learning the hard way watching my dad fight every day. Please go create memories with ya people.”
Gregg was the father to Brentt and the stepfather to Bryson, NeNe’s son from another relationship.
In May 2020, Brentt did a fun Q & A with his parents and posted it to his YouTube page “King Brentt,” which has nearly 8,000 subscribers.
The family was sitting poolside in lounge chairs and Brentt was reading questions off his phone.
“How does it feel like to have a 21-year-old?”
“I don’t know, I mean, my feeling is, I can’t believe Brentt is 21,” NeNe said while Gregg petted the family dog. “So I don’t even treat him like he’s 21. I treat him like he’s 16. I don’t know. I guess it’s good, we don’t want to be empty nesters.”
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