Gregg Leakes, the husband of NeNe Leakes, has died of colon cancer, Variety reported on Sept. 1, 2021. Leakes, who was 66, starred with his wife on the reality TV show "Real Housewives of Atlanta."
In a statement given to Variety, the couple's publicist, Ernest Duke, said "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. We ask that you pray for peace and strength over their family and allow them to mourn in private during this very, very difficult time."
"Real Housewives" producer Andy Cohen took to Twitter to express grief at the news.
Days before her husband's passing, NeNe Leakes had made an appearance at her club, Linnethia Lounge in Duluth, Georgia, where she revealed that her husband's health was in severe decline. In a video posted by the celebrity news and gossip site TMZ, she asks club patrons to be understanding about what she is going through.
"So when people approach us and say you're rude because you don't want to say happy birthday, my husband's at home dying," she said. "So I don't want to say happy birthday, OK? So please, give us some respect, give us some love."
https://www.tmz.com/videos/2021-08-29-082921-nene-leakes-1237168/
NeNe and Gregg Leakes had divorced in 2011, but reconciled and remarried in 2013, an event that was documented in the reality TV spinoff "I Dream of NeNe."
Gregg Leakes was diagnosed with cancer in 2018, but in 2019 he was cancer free. In June 2021, sadly, NeNe Leakes revealed the cancer had returned.