NeNe Leakes is sharing intimate details of the last weeks, days and moments of husband Gregg’s life, and what she misses most about him.
The reality TV personality is featured in the latest issue of PEOPLE, and in a video interview with them, she talked about some of the last conversations she had with Gregg, who passed away on Sept. 1 after a battle with colon cancer that began in 2018.
“We had two weeks leading into this transition so we made a lot of peace with what was happening,” she said. “We talked a lot. I told him how much I loved him. We said so much stuff to each other. We’ve had so many highs, so many lows and everything in between. I said, ‘I wouldn’t have chose another husband other than you. I married you twice crazy man!”
Gregg’s children and best friends also were present nonstop in his final days, but in the end, it was only NeNe and his caretaker who were there for his last moments.
“I happened to go in the room with the caretaker, otherwise it would have been her only in there,” she said. “I went in there and he took a big breath kind of like with his shoulders and then he stopped. And then I was kind of talking to her and he took another breathe and she said to me, ‘You know, I don’t think Gregg is breathing.’ I said, ‘Yes he is. He is breathing.’ Then I looked at him and he took another breathe. I said, ‘Ok, you see? He is breathing.’ And then I went back over to him and I said, ‘Gregg, you ok?’ His hands were really kind of straight. I held his hand a little bit. He took one more breath and then he didn’t move again.”
While a memorial was done in Atlanta with many well-known industry friends and loved ones present on Sept. 6, the private memorial was done the same day of his passing. It was held in the living room of the family home.
Nearing a month since his passing, NeNe says she moves about her home now deeply missing his presence, his voice and his advice.
“I always have Gregg to call and ask for help or to help me make some sort of decision. ‘Who am I going to call now? What would Gregg do?’ Then I usually break down. I cry,” NeNe said. “So I have a lot of highs and lows and I miss him every day. Every day I go home, I want Gregg to come back. I keep thinking to myself, ‘He’s away on a trip, on a business trip, he’ll be right back.’ He hasn’t got back yet. I’m still waiting for him to come home.”
However, as she told the magazine, she finds peace in one of the last things her love of 25 years said to her.
“‘I’m not going to leave you. God is going to bless you.'”
She added, “He said he wanted me to move on with my life.”