NeNe Leakes: "I'm Not an Angry Woman"

Real Housewives of Atlanta star NeNe Leakes knows her larger than life personality can be polarizing. But according to the 43-year-old reality star, it's also served her well on Celebrity Apprentice.

"NeNe Leakes is fabulous, confident and she knows who the hell she is," the Bravo star tells the March 3 issue of Rolling Out. "NeNe Leakes is not an angry woman."

Leakes' critics -- and her pregnant Real Housewives costar Kim Zolciak, 32 -- may disagree.

"Some days I'm angry, and everybody is. I just happen to be on television and the camera captures me when I'm angry," Leakes counters. "Just imagine doing a reality show. What would they capture about you? They'd capture you on your period, pissed off, angry with your man, happy, going shopping. But they're only going to put in the things that are most interesting. I'm not an angry black woman; I'm actually a cool ass black woman."

The fiery reality star found a new foe in Star Jones on Celebrity Apprentice -- though Leakes is hesitant to share too many details from their on-camera scuffle.

"I had an experience with Star. I had never met her before. I believe that any woman who gets around Star will find that Star's not cool," Leakes says cryptically. "And when you watch Celebrity Apprentice, you will see some sides of her that are just not cool."

Unfortunately for Leakes, her spat with Jones, 48, was an indicator of further turmoil during her tenure on Celebrity Apprentice.

"It was a very hard show to do. We shot the show in literally 45 days," she griped. "The hours are bananas. You work six days a week, and you rise at 4 a.m. and you get in at midnight. The earliest was 10 p.m., but sometimes it was 1 a.m."

Though she's appeared on two different reality shows, Leakes insists she didn't set out to be a TV star.

"I work with a lot of people in the business who would much rather have fame over the money, and I'm a little bit different," she tells the mag. "Famous isn't anything that I'm trying to be. I'm just trying to work and have money."

Credit: Us Magazine

NeNe Leakes on Star Jones: She is Not ‘Loyal’

Real Housewives of Atlanta star Nene Leakes and former View host Star Jones are no strangers to drama, so when the two came together to star on the upcoming season of Celebrity Apprentice, it should come as a surprise that these two ladies didn’t exactly see eye to eye.

What exactly caused this drama? And what can we expect to see on this season of the hit NBC show? Nene spoke with Celebuzz to dish out all the dirt:

You clash a bit with Star Jones on this season of Celebrity Apprentice. Can you give us some inside scoop on that?
Well for weeks we were cool. What caused it is that I don’t think Star is a loyal person. I’m very loyal to those who are loyal to me. I understand we are playing a game. People are manipulative and strategic, but I don’t feel that you need to be that way when you’re playing for charity. She was backstabbing and manipulative and it really aggravated me so I called her on it in front of Trump.

Who did you get along with and get close to?
Star and I got along well for a long time, but I always felt she had this preconceived notion about me. I also heard that she didn’t really like reality stars. Some people left early so I didn’t get a chance to make a connection with them, but I thought all the girls were cool. Latoya [Jackson] has been the person I’ve talked to the most. We clash on the show because of Star but we both confronted her. Towards the end, everyone starts to get aggressive, but all the girls are cool.

What’s it like being there with Latoya Jackson?
I’ve never been a star struck person. I respect her family and the things that they’ve done in the entertainment industry, but that’s their thing. I met her and introduced myself. I saw another side of Latoya that people don’t know. I talk to her the most out of everybody. She’s really cool.

You’ve been working on your brand and your business. Are you now looking to expand? What’s next?
A lot of opportunities have been presented to me. I’m not sure which way to go in yet, but one of my goals is to host. I’d love to do something like Chelsea Lately where we can laugh a bit and then move to the couch and have an interview. I’m also very interested in shoes and handbags too, so I have a few things to think about.

Credit: Celebuzz (Amanda Hasaka)