Leanne Brown rose to fame as one of the original Real Housewives of Cheshire stars back in 2015 and appeared on the first six series of the ITVBe show before announcing she was quitting after three years.
During her time on the show, Leanne was involved in a number of explosive storylines and feuded with fellow OG Dawn Ward, who has also since left the show.
Despite once insisting she’d never return to the show, the 46 year-old returned to the Cheshire scene during the 14th series of RHOCheshire, but has sadly not been seen on the series since – and we're on series 17 now (somehow). Which begs the questions, what happened to RHOCheshire OG Leanne Brown? And will she ever make a dramatic return to the show a la Ampika Pickston and Tanya Bardsley? The short answers are: a lot and probably not.
Here at Closer HQ, we write more of these 'where are they now?' stories in a day than we make cups of tea (that's a lie, but we do write a lot of them) and we have to say out of all of the former Housewives, Leanne has easily undergone the biggest life transformation since appearing on the show; from career, to family life, to lifestyle, to mindset, to some rather controversial opinions.
Who is Leanne Brown?
Leanne Brown is a reality star, mother, wife and clothing designer who rose to fame on the Real Housewives of Cheshire when it first hit our screens in 2015.
How old is Leanne Brown?
Leanne was born on 17 February 1977, meaning she's 47 years old.
Where is Leanne Brown from?
Although she's known as an OG Real Housewife of Cheshire, Leanne is originally from Cumbria. She moved to Manchester two decades ago to train as a beautician; it is there that she met her footballer ex-husband, Wes Brown.
Why did Leanne Brown quit the Real Housewives of Cheshire?
Leanne originally quit Real Housewives of Cheshire in 2018, three years after the show first began.
“It was really difficult making the decision to leave, I loved my time on the show, and I never say never about going back, but with things as they are I won’t be going back, it’s just too difficult. It was affecting me and my family,” she said at the time.
“At the end of the last series it got too hard, it wasn’t fun for me anymore. Stuff outside of the show wasn’t being shown which was frustrating. Outside of the show I can distance myself to an extent, it’s still going back and forth between lawyers, it’s heartbreaking,” she added to Manchester Evening News.
Following her exit from the show, Leanne focused on her humanitarian work with One Woman At A Time, a charity which assists women in gaining education and training.
Why did Leanne Brown and Dawn Ward fall out?
Leanne and Dawn's feud was one of the main storylines on RHOCheshire, although the reason behind their epic fallout was never properly explained on the show.
It's thought the pair began feuding over a £500,000 loan that Leanne's ex-husband Wes gave to Dawn's husband. The money was allegedly not repaid – although Dawn vehemently denies the accusations – and lawyers were called in to resolve the dispute.
Leanne previously told Closer of the feud, “I left RHOC because it had driven me to the point of a nervous breakdown, so it really was the right decision to go. I’d had enough. There was too much drama in my life and I just couldn’t cope with being in the same environment as Dawn.”
Is Leanne Brown returning to the Real Housewives of Cheshire?
Leanne did briefly return to the Real Housewives of Cheshire.
Leanne returned to film scenes for her charity boxing match with friend and fellow Housewife Rachel Lugo.
"Rachel and I are fighting each other so they've decided to film it on the show," Leanne said.
"I know I have always said I would never ever go back but filming the fight and potentially a few little scenes is different than me going back full time. At first I was hesitant but I thought if they want me to film a few other scenes then why not? Bring it on.
"It will actually be quite nice so I'm looking forward to it. Tanya is really good friends with Rachel but also really close to me so I guess the big thing will be who she will support," she told The Sun.
What happened with Leanne Brown and Wes Brown?
Unfortunately, in early 2022, Leanne revealed that she had split from footballer husband Wes. They were together for 25 years and got married in 2009. They share daughters Halle, Lilia and Lola together.
Is Wes Brown bankrupt?
In April 2023, it was reported that Leanne's ex husband went bankrupt over a huge debt to the taxman, as well as a car company. He allegedly lost millions of pounds in failed property deals.
Leanne spoke out about her ex husband's bankruptcy on the Elle Sera podcast earlier this year. She said, "People have this perception of your life because your husband plays football and you have all this money coming in but people have no idea where that money's going.
"They have no idea of what's going on behind close doors, where you're investing that money, who relies on you to provide for them and who's taking advantage of you because that's exactly what happened with us.
"There was such a struggle going on there for many years with us but nobody would be aware of that.
"With the market crashing as well, we had properties and then the market crashed, we couldn't get rid of anything, like, huge properties.
"We were just advised very badly for the benefit of the people that were advising and taken advantage of a lot.
"But, where I am now, we have to take responsibility for that, we allowed that to happen, we allowed the control of somebody else to take control of our finances too much in the sense that we should have been more aware, we should have been more on top of it.
What did Leanne Brown say about COVID?
Leanne drew criticism from her followers during the pandemic when she attended an anti-lockdown protest and claimed the COVID-19 pandemic was a hoax.
Alongside a series of images from the protest, Leanne wrote, “What a day! You are not alone! The tide is turning people are waking daily, more and more, coming forward to spread the truth!
“The stories of the nurses and doctors, the scientists outcry for the rollout of this jab to stop. The patients that have experienced first hand what is happening in the hospitals they were admitted to.”
She went on to claim that the pandemic is a cover-up for child sex trafficking happening in hospitals, with children being harvested for “body parts” and “ritual abuse”.
“Imagine if it was your child would you pay attention then?” she continued. “Humanity is realising the government never had your best interest at heart it’s all about lining their own pockets at whatever cost!
“Making sure you only see what they want you to see, you only react to what they brainwash you into believing, the world is one big stage the veil is lifted now it’s your time to choose how you see it.”
The reality star's post was met with condemnation, with one of her followers commenting, "I just hope your family never has to go through the experience of losing someone to covid like thousands around the country ☹️.”
“People are dying. This is disgusting,” said another, while one more wrote simply, “Outrageous.”
What is Leanne Brown doing now?
These days, Leanne is a single mum of three and somewhat of a wellbeing guru; organising well-being retreats and courses globally. She also produces and hosts a podcast called LOVE PEACE TRUTH KARMA.
She describes her podcast as such, "My aim is to widen your perception of this crazy world, so we can inner stand it fully and shine a light on the darkness and corruption that has been upon us for too long. I am a proud Freedom fighter and believe in our rights to live free. In a system that has indoctrinated us into slavery, there is so much to unlearn, only then can we educate our future generations on how to navigate us to our beautiful NEW WORLD."
Leanne also owns her own clothing brand called With Love Leanne, is an active health and wellbeing coach and even runs her own retreats. Basically, Leanne's Linktree contains a fair few things to click on.
It's giving wellness entrepreneur and, let's be honest, that's a far cry from the chaotic dinner parties of Cheshire.
Does Leanne Brown have Instagram?
Yep, you can follow Leanne on Instagram at @leanne_brown_1111.