The ladies of the Real Housewives of Potomac love to be all up in each other’s business, but last night they took a break from all that—sort of—and instead focused on the states of their relationships with each other and their families.
According to Gizelle, the ladies have been arguing entirely too much, and things just haven’t been as much fun lately. Bahrain was missing her friend, Karen, and was done inquiring about her tax issues. She simply wanted to get back to what they had before.
To that end, Gizelle texted Karen, and invited her to lunch. To her pleasant surprise, Karen accepted, but Gizelle was a bit nervous. She knew she was going to have to answer for that T-shirt stunt he pulled during Karen’s “press conference with no press”, and she wasn’t wrong!
Karen told her that the shirt wasn’t at all funny. In fact, she said it was “malicious”, and that Gizelle had behaved like “cheap gutter ball trash” that was “so low even a broom couldn’t sweep it up.” Ouch! The Grande Dame can read!
And she wasn’t quite finished with Gizelle yet. Since she was clearly so concerned about Karen’s financial issues, Karen figured it was only right that Gizelle pick up the tab for lunch, and she proceeded to order several pricey menu items, and the eatery’s most expensive champagne. Check and mate!
Gizelle took it all in stride, and by the time the ladies tucked into their meals, it was clear that Karen was ready to put their beef aside, and move on. They began to talk about the other ladies’ issues with one another, and Gizelle asked Karen to help her inject some positivity into the group dynamic during the upcoming garden party she was throwing to announce her upcoming novel.
But novel is a strong word. It implies that the book is a work of fiction, but Gizelle’s story is more of an autobiography, and although she has changed the names to protect the innocent, both her ghost writer and her friends, have warned her that it’s pretty thinly veiled, and that spilling other people’s tea so boldly could get her into trouble.
When Gizelle read an excerpt from the book, it was clear that they were right to be concerned. The story involves a woman named “Ginger”, who is married to the pastor of the largest black church in DC—kind of like Gizelle used to be with her ex-husband Pastor Jamal Bryant. Also like Gizelle, “Ginger” soon finds out that her husband is sleeping with half the women in the congregation.
After reading from her masterpiece, Gizelle revealed the true purpose of bringing them all together: to talk out their problems, and help each other to move forward in a kinder and more supportive way. Almost like real friends do.
Robyn knew immediately that she was in the hot seat. She was mid feud with both Ashley and Monique, and had been actively ignoring them throughout lunch, but since she pretty much does whatever Gizelle tells her to do, she obliged her once again, and agreed to talk it out.
Robyn addressed Monique for the first time that day, and told her that she didn’t understand why she’d “gone from 0 to 100” when she was confronted about the Robyn meme on her fan page.
Monique agreed that she may have overreacted, but said she didn’t appreciate Robyn accusing her of paying people to run her social media, and didn’t have time for such petty nonsense, anyway.
Monique’s been dealing a lot lately. Aside from moving into a new home, and chasing after two children under four with no nanny, and a husband whose constantly on the road, she also revealed the sad news that she recently suffered a miscarriage.
The two women apologized to each other, and agreed to let the matter drop. They’d been in a relatively good place before the meme, and both seemed hopeful that they could get back there.
Now, Ashley was another matter. She’s somehow made it her business to “help” Robyn to see just how “toxic” her relationship with her ex husband, Juan is, and never misses an opportunity to give her unsolicited advice.
Robyn has had it with Ashley’s overbearing ways, and has told her so several times. But Ashley maintained that she is coming from a place of love, and truly cares for Robyn and just wants her to be happy, although she agreed that her approach could have been better, and apologized.
Robyn accepted the apology , but warned Ashley that she’d better keep her opinions about her life and relationship to herself from now on.
But perhaps Robyn should listen to Ashley. As it turns out, she has a lot of experience with dysfunctional relationships, dating all the way back to her childhood.
Ashley’s mother has a history of putting her relationships with men over her relationship with her daughter. In fact, Ashley revealed that her mother left her to live with her grandparents for a year when she was about 5 years old, so she could move in with a man she was dating.
And things haven’t gotten much better since then. Ashley’s mother is currently involved with a man Ashley has described as a “loser” and a “free loader”, who is “zapping the life out of” her mother. The man doesn’t even have a job, and Ashley has had to pick up his slack, and help her mother pay the household bills and support her little sister.
Ashley’s husband, Michael, is fine with giving her mother financial help, but has told Ashley that he will only continue to do so, if she dumps her low life boyfriend.
Ashley knew she needed to speak with her mother, but she was nervous that her mother would get angry and stop speaking to her. When she finally bit the bullet, and had her mother over a chat, she realized the older woman was as stubborn as ever, and likely wouldn’t be ending her relationship, which she insisted was “better”.
Ashley pleaded with her mother to leave him, saying that he had done damage to her self esteem, ostracized her from her loved ones, and basically stolen her joy.
Ashley avoided giving her mother an ultimatum, but did give her a checklist of ways to help her get her life back on track. Her mother agreed, but stopped short of saying she’d leave her boyfriend, instead saying that she would “work on him”.
Both women were in tears when they parted company, and Ashley was left to face the sad reality that she would never be able to help her mother, if she wasn’t willing to help herself.
All in all, we saw a softer, more vulnerable side to the ladies last night, and it was actually pretty nice, but don’t expect this mushy behavior to last too long. These ladies love to bring the drama, and they’ll be back at it again next week. Stay tuned!
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