This past season on Real Housewives of Atlanta, Nene Leakes opened up about the rockiness of her marriage, amid her husband Gregg’s stage 3 colon cancer battle. Nene revealed that her marriage hadn’t been in the best place prior to Gregg’s diagnosis. So, becoming a caretaker for Gregg and his dealing with such a difficult illness seemed to make matters worse.
On the show, Nene reflected on her relationship and revealed that, in the past, Gregg had cheated on her. At one point, fans saw the longtime couple split up, only to get back together later on. According to People, the couple married in 1997. Then, in 2010, they separated before getting divorced the next year. By June 2013, the couple was back together and got remarried.
This season, on the reunion of RHOA, Gregg talks about the cheating briefly, wishing it hadn’t been brought up since he felt he had healed from the situation, though Nene may not have.
Perhaps issues like these still weighed heavy on Nene’s mind while taking care of her husband. On one episode of Real Housewives of Atlanta, when discussing Gregg’s cancer, she talked about karma. Nene said, “As a caretaker, you start — it depends on where your relationship is. You look at the person and think about, you know people love to say, ‘Karma is a bitch’ and karma this and karma that. Honest to God, I’m giving y’all the raw, raw, raw. You look at the person and be like, ‘What is that?’ Now, that ain’t right, right? But you’re human.”
She continued, “You look at the person and say, ‘You did so many different things to me. Is this the payback?’ You hope not … ‘Maybe you’re getting it back from that time you cheated on me.’ You don’t never know. You don’t ever know. But as a caretaker, these are the thoughts that go through your head because the medication got them on a roller coaster ride, and they lash out on you. It’s a lot, it’s a lot.” Nene said that Gregg had been getting mean with her and he went on to issue a public apology to his wife on social media, according to ET Online.
In the apology, Gregg said that he felt bad about hurting his wife. On Instagram, Gregg wrote, “We always hurt the ones we love… because they allow us to hurt them rather than snap back. I’m tired of hurting my wife who is only trying to take good care of me and wants only the best for me too. She deserves much more for her hard efforts and tireless hours spent on me. I Pray to God to get it together.” Gregg added, “She’s done NO wrong… This is ALL on me…… Cancer WILL change your Life…”
Towards the end of the season of RHOA, it appeared that the relationship between Gregg and up rumors began circulating. But, in March 2019, Nene spoke out online and denied split rumors, as reported by People.
Nene wrote, “Oh Lawd! They say we separated now @greggleakes #fakenews I appreciate you tho Gregg for accepting and understanding that being a care taker is something I’ve never done and I have truly done the best I know how all while making tons of mistakes along the way. You never asked to get sick and We were both thrown into these new positions over nite but whew chile you have kicked cancers ass! I can’t wait for u to share with the world your exciting news in a couple of weeks.” Whatever the ups and downs, the couple appears to be powering through and Gregg continues to press on in his own battle as well. Most recently, Gregg and Nene celebrated Gregg’s completing 6 months of chemotherapy, according to E! News.