NeNe Leakes is feeling for her fellow Real Housewives stars as they continue to battle their legal struggles in the spotlight.
Most recently, Real Housewives of New Jersey's Teresa and Joe Giudice were both sentenced to time in prison on fraud charges—15 months and 41 months, respectively—and less than 30 days prior, Phaedra Parks' husband, Apollo Nida, checked himself in to prison to begin an eight-year sentence which was issued in July following his guilty plea to bank fraud back in May.
As for NeNe's first reaction when she heard that Teresa and Joe, who are the parents to four daughters, will both be heading to jail?
"I probably felt the same way about Teresa as I did about Apollo...And just being a part of that, sometimes you have to sit and think, 'Gosh I did not know my life would even take me these places or around these people,'" she admitted to E! News. "And you form a connection with these people and you like them. And I just hurt for Teresa and I hurt for Apollo and I hurt for Phaedra. It's sad! Because how I see it is they are good people. I know they broke the law but I still see them as good people and I hate that they have to go away for so long. It's so hurtful."
Leakes was told the news that the Giudices will both be going to prison while she was filming the Real Housewives of Atlanta. Watch the clip to hear why she was particularly devastated to learn that Teresa will have to spend time away from her girls.
In addition to sharing her reaction to the couple's sentencing, the Glee star also weighed in on Teresa's plea deal confusion after the RHONJ star told host Andy Cohen that she "didn't fully understand" the plea deal she accepted that landed her 15 months in jail.
"You have to know Teresa to understand where she's coming from," Leakes insisted of the fellow reality star's headline-making confession. "Sometimes you can tell people something over and over and over again and they just don't get it. Because I know her, I know that she just did not get it."
During Teresa's interview with Cohen, which was conducted just days after her sentencing, the mother of four claimed that her lawyer did not tell her what the plea deal could possibly entail.
"I didn't fully understand it," she said. "I thought my lawyer was going to fight for me. I mean, that's what lawyers do. I don't know. That's why you hire an attorney. You put it in their hands."
Still, Leakes was skeptical of Teresa's ability to fully "receive" the information. "I mean even if they read it to her she probably just really did not get it in a way," she explained. "You know, sometimes people don't really want to believe something is really happening and she didn't receive it. Like, she wasn't really receiving anything."
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