Reality TV star Nene Leakes wants you to know that she’s rich. Very rich. So much so that she’s selling a T-shirt emblazoned in crystals that reads “I’m very rich b*tch.”
Perhaps she feels we need a bit of convincing? I mean why else would she have to yell it from the rooftop? Surely if we really, really thought she was rich, she wouldn’t need to sell it on a t-shirt, no?
As the saying goes, telling ain’t selling.
According to NeNe Leakes being “very rich” is in fact being very vague, because when Andy Cohen asked the reality TV star just how rich she actually was, she replied “Only ignorant people would go immediately to money,” and continued that she was “rich” in health and spirit.
If “only ignorant people would go immediately to money” I’m guessing we can assume that only fools would sell and buy $150 crystallized tees that purport monetary wealth when really they just want the world to know their blood pressure is below 115/70. But I guess that t-shirts not as sexy, no?
I’m sure NeNe does have money — she’s the most famous of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, and has spun off her reality TV show fame to countless other opportunities. But there is definitely something tasteless about this nouveau riche trend that a lot of black reality TV stars flaunt: while the rest of the country is belly up in debt and recession depression, these people make a living bragging on their wealth.
It’s tacky and irresponsible, not to mention hard to believe — most of these stars have had their brush with bankruptcy and foreclosure, NeNe Leakes included.
Take for example Toni Braxton. The singer notoriously filled for bankruptcy twice, most recently in 2010, but on a recent episode of her reality show she’s showing off her mini-mansion to her family. As sister Traci Braxton said, “is this what it means to be bankrupt? Sign me up.”
Truly wealthy and rich people understand the irresponsibility of bragging on their bank accounts in this economy. And yet while people are losing their jobs, homes, their entire life’s work, NeNe is shopping around for $9 million mansions and selling t-shirts about being rich. NeNe’s money was her private business, until she turned it into entertainment, at which point she gave every last person the right to judge her. And right now NeNe Leakes is coming off as sort of an ass.
Unfortunately she’s also is a victim of this lifestyle that she’s chosen to portray — NeNe must continue to emulate this lifestyle of riches and excess, or else she risks loosing her celebrity status. It’s a vicious cycle, a fame seeking merry-go-round that seems impossible to escape — NeNe got famous because she was “rich,” now fame is making her “rich,” but she has to remain “rich” to stay famous. No one is interested in the middle class housewives of DeKalb County. A large part of her fame is dependent on maintaining the air of an upper class lifestyle.
Best of luck in maintaining the charade. But remember, NeNe Leakes, when it all falls down (and keep blowing money fast, it will) hopefully you’ll still be “rich in health and spirit.” That’s all the rest of us can hope for in this economy.