As if NeNe Leakes doesn’t have enough drama to deal with on the “Real Housewives of Atlanta,” the reality star is now facing more trouble at home.

Leakes’ eldest son, Bryson Bryant, was arrested Tuesday on a charge stemming from an earlier arrest for possession of a controlled substance and carrying a weapon while at Gwinnett County Jail, the Daily News has learned.

He posted a $5,700 bond and was reportedly released from a Gwinnett County Detention Center in Atlanta at 3:35 a.m.

This marks the second arrest for Bryant, who has appeared on several “Housewives” episodes alongside his mother.

According to a law enforcement official, Bryant was visiting a jail inmate on March 7 when deputies learned that he had an outstanding warrant for failing to appear on a traffic charge.

“When he was arrested, deputies discovered a small amount of marijuana on him,” the official said. “He was charged with possession of less than an ounce of marijuana.”

Bryant also should have been charged with crossing a guard line while in possession of drugs, however there was apparently a miscommunication between a deputy and a supervisor regarding that matter.

“The deputy took out the charge later, but Mr. Bryant had already bonded out of jail,” the official said.

Once he was made aware of the new warrant on the additional charge of crossing the guard line, Bryant is said to have turned himself in.

At the time of the first arrest, Leakes issued a statement, calling her son’s arrest a “family issue.”

“Like any parent, I am disappointed with the actions and arrest of my son, Bryson,” she said. “My son is not the first young adult to experiment with marijuana, and he certainly won’t be the last. Still, as parents, this is a chance for us to have an open dialogue with him about the dangers of any substance abuse. I realize as a parent that my job is never done. And as I’ve tweeted, tough love was in order.”

The “Real Housewives” of Atlanta will be back for a third season — well, most of them.

According to a source, NeNe Leakes and Kim Zolciak are demanding more money to appear on the show than Bravo cares to dish out — and producers are so fed up with their diva-esque requests, they’re quietly making plans to move on without the two.

“Bravo has been taking meetings with some notable and wealthy Atlanta women about possibly joining the show,” says the insider. “They’re trying their best to keep the process under wraps, but they’re gearing up to make a major move in the third season.”

The insider dishes that the newest Southern socialite will either join the already-rowdy Atlanta crew as a sixth housewife — or replace NeNe or Kim.

While a final decision hasn’t been made, one Atlanta lady who viewers won’t be seeing on the show is Tameka Foster Raymond, better known as Usher’s ex-wife.

“Tameka isn’t very popular in Atlanta,” says the source, who reveals that the 39-year-old was initially in the running. “The producers asked each one of the women how they would feel if she were cast, and they all said that they’d walk. That’s the one thing they’ve been united about.”

The network does feels strongly about bringing back two of the more well-behaved Housewives: Kandi Burruss and Sheree Whitfield, who share screen time with Leakes, Zolciak and Lisa Wu and seem to be the most popular of the controversial crew. Our source says Bravo will let them stick around for as long as they’d like.

“Kandi was a fan favorite last season. Her audience approval ratings were through the roof,” the insider explains. “And Sheree’s clothing line [She by Sheree] and her catch phrase, ‘Who gonna check me, boo?’ were definite standouts.”

Bravo had no comment, while reps for Leakes and Zolciak didn’t respond to calls by deadline. But fans of the reality show can rest assured that the rocky negotiations won’t interfere with production.

“Things with NeNe and Kim have been intense,” says the source, “but Bravo feels the show is about the franchise as a whole and won’t let one person stop it.”

(source)

Nene Leakes and Cara

NeNe Leakes quickly became the breakout star of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” and has enjoyed the rewards of her overnight stardom. However, the tell-it-like-it-is diva recently experienced what she deems a harsh reality bite on her character. NeNe reached out to ESSENCE.com to get a few things off her chest about the business of dramality TV.

ESSENCE.COM: You expressed that you wanted to set the record straight about the season finale that airs this Thursday. What gives?

NENE LEAKES: I had a meeting with production because I was really upset with the final episode because I believe I was portrayed as this evil person.

ESSENCE.COM: How so?

NENE: Well, a lot of things are edited to be seen a certain way, when in reality it’s really not that way all the time. Don’t get me wrong, the events that are taking place are real, but depending on the editing they can cut and paste and make it appear as if you say something at a certain time when it didn’t happen in that sequence at all.

Read the entire interview here:

http://www.essence.com/news_entertainment

Checking in With NeNe Leakes of ‘The Real Housewives of Atlanta’

Voted Bravo’s most popular member of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” NeNe Leakes is a woman with a plan. Her debut “Never Make the Same Mistake Twice” (Touchstone), hit shelves last month. The jet-setting wife and mother (NYC for VH1′s Diva 2009 one day, flying to Vegas for a championship boxing match the next) is also working on a shoe collection, a talk show, and even trying her hand at creative directing. Not bad for a former single mom and stripper from smalltown Athens, Georgia. The busy ATL peach took a break from her full schedule to chat with ESSENCE.com about all her exciting new ventures, blended families, and why she just might be tardy for the party.

ESSENCE.COM: This season on “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” you reunited with Kim. What do you have to say to those viewers who think you guys are fake because you weren’t cool when the show ended last season?

LEAKES: Well, it’s not fake. We’re just like any other group of girls that hang out. We have our ups and downs, we get back together–that’s real life. There’s nothing on the show that is fake. It is what it is.

ESSENCE.COM: You and your husband, Gregg, are a wonderful example of a blended family that works, and it’s nice that we get to see more of you guys coparenting your oldest son, Bryson, this season.

LEAKES: Thank you. I was a single mother when I met Gregg. Bryson was my only child. Gregg had children too from a previous marriage; they’re adults now. I wasn’t going to be with a man that wasn’t a father to my child. One thing that Gregg and I did agree upon going into the marriage was that Gregg does not discipline Bryson. I told him that he wouldn’t discipline my children and I wouldn’t discipline his. But my kids can’t disrespect him and his kids can’t disrespect me. So I definitely think that blended families can work but both parties have to lay down the ground rules going in the door.

ESSENCE.COM: So true. Earlier this week, popular Atlanta hairstylist Derek J stopped by the ESSENCE office and mentioned Kim’s single “Tardy for the Party.” We all recall that you encouraged Kim to record the song last season. Your thoughts?

LEAKES: I think the way it turned out was kinda shady in the end. You guys will have to see it on the show. Kim never liked “Tardy for the Party.” It was a song that I liked. She wanted to go record a song with Dallas Austin called “Tightrope.” Then all of a sudden she wanted to record the song when fans started saying “Don’t be tardy for the party!” She started being shady and wanted to take me out of the whole deal. It all worked out in the end though because I don’t need “Tardy for the Party” to make me popular. I’m already popular.

To find out what’s next for NeNe – read the entire interview here:

http://www.essence.com

Eviction notice ‘none of your business,’ NeNe Leakes writes

NeNe Leakes, the breakout star of the hit Bravo reality show “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” is no longer living at the pricey Duluth five-bedroom residence shown on the series.

According to Darryl Pierce, the broker for the 5,000-square-foot home at 1765 Silvermere Court in Duluth, NeNe and her husband, Gregory Leakes, left in November after Winwood Properties filed an eviction notice in September.

The notice, filed Sept. 24 with the Magistrate Court of Gwinnett County, said Greg Leakes owed $6,240 in past due rent. “The tenant said they would move by Sept. 14th because they could no longer afford the house,” the notice said.

The owner of the home, Kajani Shenaz Ali, lives overseas, Pierce said. Online records show the home in the gated community of Stonebrier at Sugarloaf, was purchased for $829,400 in September 2006. Pierce said the Leakeses moved into the home shortly after it was built in 2006.

NeNe Leakes, in a series of e-mails Tuesday, would not say where she is living now. “It’s none of your business,” she wrote. But she noted that they “are financial able [sic] and stable to live where ever we feel fits.”

NeNe, 41, wrote that the eviction notice does not have her name on it, adding “you don’t know my relationship with Greg so be careful what you report!”

The Duluth home, she wrote in an e-mail late last week, “was a lease purchase corporate deal with Greg & his company. Things didn’t work out between the two of them so they did what they had to do and he did what he had to do.”

On Tuesday, she wrote, “If we rent, lease purchase or buy, money is still coming out of my pocket. So who’s [sic] business is that??”

Gregory, 54, couldn’t be reached for comment. The TV show called him a real estate investor. The only business the AJC could find under his name in Georgia is called Advantage Move LLC. The phone number listed for Advantage Move has been disconnected.

“The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” in its first season, became a watercooler show packed with jealousy, petty arguments and conspicuous spending. It averaged 1.3 million viewers over seven episodes, the biggest freshman series for the Bravo cable network since “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” in 2003.

Bravo spokeswoman Rachelle Savoia said, “We don’t comment on the personal lives of our talent.”

NeNe has been featured in Entertainment Weekly and TV Guide, lauded by fans for her honesty and her sense of humor. The show’s ratings climbed steadily during its brief run, culminating in a fiery reunion episode, which aired Nov. 25 and drew 2.8 million viewers. That’s more than any “Real Housewives” episode, including versions in Orange County, Calif., and New York City.

(source)