Nene Leakes Reflects on Everything 2021 Has Taught Her

Nene Leakes is feeling reflective as she heads into 2022.

She recently opened up about the lessons she has learned over the past year in a post on Instagram on December 28. The post featured a photo of Nene posing on a beach chair in the sand. The close-up selfie showed Nene wearing a straw hat decorated with pink and yellow roses. "This year really taught me so much [about] people places [and] things," Nene captioned the pic, before adding the hashtag "1 life."

This photo appeared to have been taken while on vacation with Nene's rumored new boyfriend, Nyonisela Sioh. On Monday, December 27, Nene posted videos of herself and Nyonisela relaxing on the beach in her Instagram Stories, according to PEOPLE.

This has been a difficult year for Nene. She shared in June that husband Gregg Leakes' cancer had returned two years after he had been declared cancer-free amid his battle with stage 3 colon cancer. Gregg passed away on September 1 at the age of 66.

Following Gregg's passing, Nene honored her late husband with a celebration of life at her Linnethia Lounge on September 6, which was attended by loved ones, including many members of the Bravo family. Nene continued to keep Gregg's memory alive by sharing touching tributes on Instagram.

Nene shared her grieving process with fans, opening up about her "good days and bad days" in the weeks following Gregg's passing. Still, Nene continued to embrace life, reuniting with Cynthia Bailey and Marlo Hampton in September. Nene's son, Brentt Leakes, surprised his mom with a joyous birthday party at the Linnethia Lounge on December 14, where she reunited with Porsha Williams and Shamea Morton.

Though Nene said that she wasn't quite ready to respond to all the DMs from "gentlemen" back in in October, she confirmed to The Shade Room earlier this month that she has started dating someone new. "We’re dating! We’re friends," Nene said without revealing the identity of her new suitor. “I will love Gregg forever [and] ever! Grieving is hard! Even harder [and] depressing alone. Gregg and I had a very tearful conversation before his passing. His words to me were 'be happy, keep smiling and he who finds you, has found a good one.'"

As this year came to a close, Nene shared more positive selfies on Instagram, writing in the captions of the December posts, "I got nothing but love for you" and "I just wanna be happy….that’s all #onelife."

In one December 16 Instagram post, Nene included in her hashtags, "she's back."