Alex Newell’s Details How NeNe Leakes Shaded Her On Glee

Alex Newell remembers the first time she ever met The Real Housewives of Atlanta’s NeNe Leakes—and it isn’t the story you’d expect to hear!

Newell, who currently plays Mo on NBC’s latest show, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, appeared on Glee between 2010 and 2014, which is where she met Leakes originally.

GLEE: Marley (Melissa Benoist, L), Unique (Alex Newell, C) and Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz, R) perform in the “Britney 2.0” episode of GLEE airing Thursday, Sept. 20 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2012 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Mike Yarish/FOX

Though known for The Real Housewives of Atlanta, Leakes also guested on Glee multiple times as a character named Coach Roz. Leakes often played very comically against Jane Lynch’s character, who Coach Roz once referred to as being “older than God.”

Newell spoke with Black Hollywood Live about meeting Leakes on the set of Glee for the first time and what it was like for her to meet someone she admired so much.

“I also am a Real Housewives of Atlanta fan,” Newell confessed in the interview with BHL, “I’ll never forget the time that NeNe shaded me when we was on Glee. This is my first time telling anyone this story.”

Newell continued by talking about her moment as a fangirl and how excited she was to finally meet Leakes.

“I was like, ‘omg, I get to meet NeNe! I get to meet NeNe! I get to meet NeNe!’” Newell said emphatically, “and so I sat there and she was filming her scene and I was like ‘alright, this is my chance! This is my chance!’ And she looked at me and said, ‘are you on makeup?’ I said ‘no, I’m one of the series regulars. Pow-pow!’”

Newell seemed to be a little hurt by Leakes mistaking her for makeup, but Newell admitted she let it go, and it’s now a very fun story to tell.

“She meant well, she didn’t know,” Newell added. “She had just met me but, um, we came from it and we’re far from it and she probably doesn’t remember that moment, but I will forever have that live on my heart and I still love her for it because it’s a good conversation starter.”

For more from Newell, be sure to catch her on Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist as the quirky friend who sings even when it isn’t part of Zoey’s powers. Only the pilot episode has been released so far, but the next episode will air Sunday, February 16th at 9 pm EST on NBC, and the show is slated for that Sunday slot going forward.