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Chanel Ayan revealed more details about her friendship falling out with Lesa Milan, her former bestie on Real Housewives of Dubai. According to Chanel, the drama began when she unsent a DM to Rihanna after Lesa asked her to reach out to the singer to find out if she’d promote Lesa’s clothing line.
Last season on the show, Chanel and Lesa were super close, and it seemed impossible that the long-time friends would ever feud.
Speaking on Page Six’s Virtual Reali-Tea podcast, Chanel claimed Rihanna was unknowingly involved in the drama.
“The reality is Rihanna follows me [on Instagram], I do have a relationship with Rihanna,” said Chanel, alleging that Milan asked her to contact the recording artist, who was pregnant at the time, to see if she’d wear Lesa’s maternity line, Mina Roe.
“Lesa asked me, ‘Do you mind if you reach out [for] Mina Roe for me?’” Chanel explained.
The model shared that she then DMed Rihanna, asking if she’d be interested in wearing the line. But the problem, Chanel claimed, was that she had already contacted the singer for business advice concerning Chanel’s Ayan Beauty collection, and she allegedly hadn’t responded yet.
“Everyone was like, ‘Ayan, you cannot ask her so much. You just met her,’” said Chanel. “I did send the DM. I did show [Milan] that I sent the DM because she kept asking, ‘Did she read it? Did she read it? Did she read it?’ … And then my friends were like, ‘Ayan, you cannot. You just asked her about Ayan Beauty.’”
Because of this, Chanel unsent the DM before Rihanna read it.
“I already asked her to help me with something. She had not even replied to me about Ayan Beauty yet,” Chanel added, explaining that Rihanna later responded to her question about the collection. “She did after.”
Though Lesa was upset by Chanel unsending the DM, this wasn’t the only issue behind their feud. Both castmates claim an incident that was “very deep” occurred at the finale, and this ultimately ended their friendship.
But Chanel hopes to reconcile. “She’s like family to me. You don’t throw your family away,” said Chanel. “You just don’t.”
The star has recently enjoyed her rapport with Rihanna, who’s a fan of the Housewives franchise.
“I’m obsessed with Rihanna, obsessed! She comes a bit from the lifestyle I come from, and then she’s this successful, beautiful mogul,” said Chanel. “A lot of things I love about myself, I feel like I love [about] her, too. She’s a goddess.”
Chanel shared that Rihanna once hired her years ago to model for the singer’s Fenty Beauty brand.
“When Rihanna came to Dubai for the first time to open Fenty Beauty, I was her model. So I met her and the first thing I said to her — and I have a video of it — I was like, ‘Girl, my son loves you, my son is 11 years old, wants to marry you, you’re so beautiful, you’re so stunning,’” Chanel recalled. “So when she followed me [after RHODubai premiered], I was just like, ‘Babes, we’ve met.’ She was like, ‘What?’ I sent her the video of me and Taj, me telling her about my son and she goes, ‘Oh my God, you really love your son.’ And I said, ‘Yes, he’s the love of my life.’”