NeNe Leakes Says She's Not the Same Person She Was Last Year in New RHOA Episode and Talks about Husband's Gregg's Cancer Battle

"I know I've been petty," NeNe Leakes admitted upon her return to "Real Housewives of Atlanta" where she reveals she's changed. She also opens up about the state of her marriage and her friendship with Cynthia Bailey.

A lot has changed since last year, according to NeNe Leakes who admits she’d been petty in the past.

Leakes returned to the screens of “Real Housewives of Atlanta” viewers for the first time this week since Season 12 commenced and made some interesting revelations about herself. For one thing, she said, “I am definitely not the same NeNe as I was last year.”

NeNe attributes her new perspective to the help she’s been getting from a spiritual advisor.

THE NENE OF THE PAST

Many will easily recall the NeNe that violently accosted a cameraman of the show in the midst of her struggles with her husband, Gregg Leakes’ illness. Gregg was being treated for cancer and NeNe was his frustrated and distressed caregiver.

For a time, rumors swirled that their marriage was on the rocks and though NeNe admitted they went through a rough patch, they stayed together.

We are also privy to the NeNe who fought with her co-stars, one of them was her very good friend, Cynthia Bailey. NeNe took offense when Cynthia invited her rival, Kenya Moore to the season 11 finale party. The former friends had a falling out and were never the same since.

THE CHANGED NENE

But now that Gregg is cancer-free and NeNe has had the chance to seek spiritual counseling, she faced her audience declaring she was a different person. She also revealed her relationship with Gregg was “healing.”

Fans witnessed in the recent episode how NeNe became emotional describing her ordeal with Gregg. “It’s a very tough thing to do,” she admitted of taking care of Gregg.

“It’s tough on both of us, though,” Gregg added.

NeNe starts to cry in agreement. "Yeah, it's very hard. It's really hard."

Gregg assured her that she did her best and “did a champion’s job.”

NeNe also acknowledged elsewhere during the episode that she was “petty” in the past, referring to her tiff with Cynthia.

“I know I’ve been petty,” she said but adds, “I’m in a different headspace now.”

"We hung out — that will never, ever happen again. Not on my watch, at least."

NeNe attributes her new perspective to the help she’s been getting from a spiritual advisor.

“She helps me with not just my personal relationship with my husband, but with my girlfriends, how to move forward,” the 51-year-old star shares.

ON THE FUTURE OF HER RELATIONSHIP WITH CYNTHIA

But while she’s learning to put the past behind and move forward a changed person, NeNe believes some things will never go back to the way they used to be. That is especially true about her friendship with Cynthia.

“Cynthia and I’s falling out is very different than me having any falling out [with] any other girl in this group because we were very close,” NeNe said on Sunday’s episode. “So my fear is our friendship will never be the same.”

NeNe also reveals Gregg’s advice to her is to “own up” to her involvement. But she’s quite certain that though she and Cynthia may speak again, they will never go back to the way they used to be. This was her conclusion earlier this month when she said,

“We will always be in the same circle, we just won’t be what we were, which was, we talked on the phone every day, all day. We hung out — that will never, ever happen again. Not on my watch, at least. It just won’t ever be that way again.”

Cynthia seemed to feel the same way when she told People’s “Reality Check,” “My relationship is what it is.”

NeNe and Cynthia came face to face at the end of their show’s recent episode but producers kept fans hanging over what happened next.