Yahoo Finance RHOA : NeNe Leakes Allegedly 'Tried to Choke' Kim Zolciak-Biermann During Off-Camera Altercation
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One of the biggest fights to break out among the cast of The Real Housewives of Atlanta happened when cameras weren't even rolling.
In the new book Not All Diamonds and Rosé: The Inside Story of the Real Housewives From the People Who Lived It, it's revealed that NeNe Leakes and Kim Zolciak-Biermann allegedly got into an argument that quickly turned physical during season 2 of RHOA— but the cameras "missed the whole thing."
"The arguments between Kim and NeNe were always next level. All season 2, they went back and forth, fighting and making up," producer Carlos King said. "Then there was an incident that happened off-camera where NeNe allegedly tried to choke Kim in a Target parking lot."
While both Leakes, 53, and Zolciak-Biermann, 43, declined to participate in interviews for Not All Diamonds and Rosé, former Housewife Shereé Whitfield said she witnessed the entire incident go down.
"They were at Atlantic Station. Kim and NeNe were waiting to film a scene shopping at a boutique," she recalled. "But NeNe was upset because Kim had supposedly been talking about her behind her back at the A-List Awards."
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According to Whitfield, Leakes approached Zolciak-Biermann to confront her.
"They started arguing and NeNe went for Kim's neck and was choking her," Whitfield claimed. "She lunged at her twice. Kim ended up calling the police but dropped the charges. The cameras were inside the store, so they missed the whole thing."
Reps for Leakes and Zolciak-Biermann did not respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.
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The two women, who were friendly before filming for the series first began in 2008, never fully made up. They continued to clash until Zolciak-Biermann unexpectedly left the show in the middle of season 5.
"As soon as you're not getting along with NeNe, she has no need for you," Whitfield said. "She throws you out."
But while some saw Leakes' growing ego as the problem, their costar Cynthia Bailey argued that Zolciak-Biermann certainly wasn't innocent, saying the Don't Be Tardy alum was held to different "standards" as the franchise's only white cast member.
"Kim can be disrespectful as hell, that's for sure," she said in Not All Diamonds and Rosé. "And we all felt that because she was white, she wasn't held to the same standards as we were."
According to Bailey, 54, Zolciak-Biermann had a reputation for refusing to film and rebelling against production's rules — often using her then-growing family as an excuse not to work.
"For me — I don't care who you are, I don't care what color you are, I don't care how many kids you got — when it's time to come to work, bring your a-- to work," Bailey said.
Not All Diamonds and Rosé: The Inside Story of the Real Housewives From the People Who Lived It is out now.
