Monique Samuels is discussing distancing herself from The Real Housewives of Potomac following her physical confrontation with Candiace Dillard for the first time, sharing her thoughts on this week’s episode in a new interview.
Chatting with Entertainment Weekly about the altercation, Monique shares that she did in fact choose to separate herself from the RHOP cast following her showdown with Candiace, adding that it was necessary in her journey of self-reflection.
“I definitely separated, and I told them, even in the episode you saw, this is bigger than this TV show,” she told the magazine in an exclusive, and very honest, interview. “I really wanted to just take a step back and reevaluate everything and remember, like, who I am as a person, and not be judged by who other people think I am because of one moment in time. I was very honest about the fact that I wanted to take a break from everyone and just focus on me and my family and just try to figure out what my triggers are so that something like that would never happen again. So I had no desire to be around the ladies. At the point where I did feel comfortable enough to talk to some of the women, I was able to reach out to them and just kind of check in. You’ll see as the episodes go by how receptive or not-receptive they were.”
Worried about the edit
A year later, the RHOP star says that she is still dealing with the aftermath of the event and has been worried about what both editing and fan reaction would look like when Season 5 debuted. “Starting out, you never know how the story is going to be put together and told, you know? So once you’re watching it unfold, you’re just like a viewer… but then you realize, like, wow, this is me!” she said, laughing. “But you just kind of start to process it and deal with it the best way you can. And knowing the end of the road and how I ended this entire chapter within the season keeps me hopeful because I know that it’s literally a journey.”
Real Housewives of Potomac star Monique Samuels discussed her physical altercation with Candiace Dillard for the first time in a new interview with EW.
“Every week, the viewers are going to see a new piece unfold and if they can just be patient enough, once we get to the end, they’ll just see a whole total transformation, they’ll see growth, they’ll see acceptance and acknowledgment,” she explained.
Surprised by Wendy
On Sunday’s episode of RHOP, the women gathered at Karen Huger’s house to discuss the altercation and many viewers believe Gizelle Bryant, Wendy Osefo, and Robyn Dixon all had their minds made up prior to hearing Monique out. When the interviewer echoed this sentiment, Monique shared that she felt that way in the moment and that she was most shocked by Wendy’s reaction.
“I wasn’t surprised by Gizelle at all. That’s how she is. She’s a hypocrite,” she said. “So, not surprising. I was actually more surprised by Robyn and Wendy because it seemed that all of them came in with their mind already made up. I literally said, ‘There’s no excuse for my actions.’ I’m owning it and they still didn’t want to hear it. So it’s almost as if they had their own meeting, which — when I watched [Sunday’s] episode, I saw that Candiace actually said to Karen on the phone that she had already spoken with all of the women. So when I saw that in the episode, I was like, ‘Oh, now it really makes sense.'”
“They already had their little off-camera meetings and they discussed whatever they discussed,” she said, alluding to rumours that Candiace and co. may have talked about how to take Monique down prior to filming the season. “And it seems like they came up with this whole plan, like, ‘Oh yeah, we’re going to go in on her. And we’re going to get her off the show — or at least kick her out the group.'” Monique doesn’t really explain, however, how this plan connects with the physical altercation.
“I was [particularly] surprised by Wendy because she had called me the day after the fight,” she continued. “We spoke for about 20 minutes on the phone, and in that conversation, she was more understanding and she was more trying to relate to me in that moment. She started talking about how, when she was in high school, she fought all the time. And she said, ‘When I looked at you in your eyes, I recognized that, because that was me at one time, and I had been down that road, and I know you got egged on…’ She was coming from a place of being more, like, ‘I relate to you. I’m not saying what you did was okay, but I get it. Because I’ve been down that road before.'”
She continued, “So fast-forward to Tuesday when we sat down as a group and she had completely flipped. Now it makes sense, when I saw that Candiace said she had already spoken with all of the ladies. So clearly, you know, she jumped onto their bandwagon. So I was really surprised at that, but I wasn’t there to argue with anybody. I was trying to just like, give my piece, apologize for putting them in a position to be in harm’s way, and then let them know here’s my plan for moving forward.”
While it is clear that both Monique and Candiace were wrong in the situation and that physical violence should never be the answer, it is interesting to hear Monique’s point of view about what was going on behind-the-scenes. Clearly, a lot was happening between these women and there is a lot of unfinished business that will need to be discussed at the reunion.
Like many reality shows, RHOP seems to have been plagued by off-camera drama and while some may think this fight is good for the show, the ratings have already started to dip again and it is not like the fight can carry future seasons. And if this cast needs any further indication that dragging out drama isn’t good for story, they should look no further than the cast of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Puppy Gate, anyone?
To hear more from Monique Samuels about her fight with Candiace Dillard, check out EW and watch The Real Housewives of Potomac Sundays on Bravo.
