Gregg Leakes: Real Housewives of Atlanta star and NeNe Leakes’s husband dies aged 66

Leakes was part of the reality show’s original cast in 2008

(Getty Images)

Gregg Leakes, who appeared with his wife NeNe Leakes on The Real Housewives of Atlanta, has died aged 66.

Leakes had been diagnosed with colon cancer in May 2018.

News of his death was confirmed in a statement made by his family’s publicist and friend, Ernest Dukes.

“Today the Leakes family is in deep pain with a broken heart,” read Dukes’s statement.

“After a long battle with cancer, Gregg Leakes has passed away peacefully in his home surrounded by all of his children, very close loved ones and wife NeNe Leakes.”

Dukes added: “We ask that you pray for peace and strength over their family & allow them to mourn in private during this very difficult time.”

NeNe, 53, has since shared an Instagram post apparently referencing her husband’s death. The image reads: “Broken,” alongside the praying hands and broken heart emojis.

News of his death follows days after NeNe told a crowd at an event on 28 August that Gregg is “transitioning to the other side”.

“My husband is transitioning to the other side,” Nene reportedly said. “People approach and say, ‘You’re rude because you don’t want to say happy birthday.’ My husband is at home, dying.”

She added: “My husband is not going to be here in the next couple of days.”

Gregg and NeNe Leakes were part of the original cast of Bravo’s reality hit series Real Housewives of Atlanta in 2008.

The couple separated by season three, which aired in 2010. Their divorce was a storyline of season four, which later saw NeNe reconsider the separation. The pair remarried in January 2013 and stayed on the series before exiting RHOA after season 12 last year.