‘RHOA’ Season Finale: NeNe & Cynthia’s Friendship Falters After Kenya’s ‘Surprise’ Return

Cynthia Bailey found herself caught in the middle of NeNe Leakes and Kenya Moore's feud during the March 31 season finale of 'The Real Housewives of Atlanta'.

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So many tears were shed during the March 31 season finale of The Real Housewives of Atlanta. First, Porsha broke down and cried at her gender reveal party, when she showed up and saw that the party was barely put together and set up like the carnival that she had envisioned. The ladies rallied around her and managed to cheer her up, but she and Dennis were still extremely upset with their party planner. Even so, the gender reveal was pretty thrilling for everyone who attended the party, as pink confetti filled the air and Porsha learned she and Dennis were expecting a baby girl!

NeNe also shed a few tears during the season finale, but before we get to her breakdown, we need to explain why she became so unhappy in the first place. Halfway through the episode, Cynthia hosted a wine cooler event to introduce her new peach bellini, and all the ladies attended. Even NeNe, who chose not to go to Porsha’s reveal party because she felt Porsha doesn’t support the other women, but that’s neither here nor there at this point. The real drama of the night came when Kandi walked into Cynthia’s party with Ms. Kenya Moore by her side. And Kenya actually walked into the party after she let out a loud evil laugh that echoed down the hall and into the main party room, so it was pretty unsettling. Anyway, upon seeing Kenya, NeNe said something along the lines of, “A monster is here.”

And Kandi could be heard telling Cynthia, “You wanted Kenya here, so here she is.” NeNe overheard the comment and became really upset because she and Kenya had been feuding on social media during the weeks that led up to the party, so she didn’t feel Cynthia should have invited her. At the very least, she felt Cynthia should have warned her that Kenya was coming. Interestingly, NeNe also revealed that she was being extremely sarcastic when she was commenting on pics from Kenya Moore’s baby shower. Remember when everyone reported that NeNe was squashing their beef with positive comments? Yeah, well, NeNe was totally being sarcastic. She straight up despises Kenya and was furious to see that she was at Cynthia’s party.

Then, when Cynthia let Kenya make a speech on the microphone, NeNe completely shut down. She wouldn’t even let Gregg go up on stage when Cynthia tried bringing him up. NeNe was clearly furious with Cynthia, which is why a day or two after the party, she met up with Cynthia to share her feelings. And that’s when NeNe broke down in tears — at the same time, she told Cynthia that Cynthia seems to have Kenya’s back more than hers. And she feels betrayed by her. Cynthia told NeNe that she should be allowed to be friends with both, without getting involved in their drama, but NeNe didn’t see it that way. So she got up from the table, with tears streaming down her face, and walked outside to catch a ride home. Cynthia followed her and tried to apologize and make everything better, but we still had an icky feeling in our stomachs as the episode came to a close.

NeNe seemed receptive to Cynthia’s apology, but considering how dramatic the reunion’s going to be, we don’t think their friendship will ever overcome this. Oh and side note — in the final moments of the episode, a flashback showed Cynthia telling her boyfriend, Mike, that she had to pretend she didn’t know Kenya was going to the party. A phone conversation between her and Kandi also played before that and the ladies could be heard saying something like, “we need to make sure our story is the same.” So even though Cynthia told NeNe that she didn’t know Kenya was going to her party, despite being invited, she was clearly lying. And we can only imagine that’s what the ladies will fight about during the reunion.

The Real Housewives of Atlanta three-part reunion premieres next Sunday, April 7, at 8pm on Bravo!