Nene Leakes
NeNe Leakes confirms her return to Real Housewives Of Atlanta season 9 Getty

After a rather colourless season of Real Housewives Of Atlanta season 8, fans are wondering if NeNe Leakes will return to RHOA to spice up the drama. Leakes herself addressed the rumours and confirmed that she will return in season 9.

Appearing on Live! With Kelly, the reality star was asked by one of the hosts if she will return to RHOA. "Well let me just say I love the housewives. I've been there since day one...I can't tell you guys that yet. But what I will tell you is, I've always been there. I'm loyal to Bravo. So I will be there in some capacity. How about that?"

Leakes admitted to watching the episodes of season 8 in which she was not present and shared a dramatic response. "I was like 'Lord let me hurry up and get back over in my chair. Let me hurry and get back. They need me.' So I hurried back," she said.

Leakes, being the only housewife to have been in all 8 seasons of RHOA, revealed that she had a hand in casting for the original crew in season 1. "When they first saw me, they came out and interviewed me, they were like 'we have been having a hard time, who do you know?' and I said, 'listen, this is who you need to call – Kim Zolciak, Sheree Whitfield and DeShawn Snow", she said.

"We all became season one Real Housewives of Atlanta" she added. The actress admitted that RHOA helped build her career. "Being on Housewives really gave me the platform for my career to take off," she said.

NeNe made a small guest appearance in season 8 of RHOA, and joined the ladies on their Jamaican vacation in episode 13. The cast of RHOA season 9 is still under speculation and is rumoured to include Cynthia Bailey, Kenya Moore, Porsha Williams, Kim Zolciak.

Bravo is yet to make an official announcement about season 9 cast and premiere date.