Credit: Instagram
Stephanie Shojaee and Alexia Nepola looked back on the bonding moment they shared over their struggles with their sisters after last week’s episode of The Real Housewives of Miami.
As Alexia, 58, explained why she wasn’t upset with the negative things Marysol Patton, 58, said about Todd Nepola, 52, amid season seven, and Marysol applauded Alexia’s active role in her son Frankie’s life, Stephanie, 40, and Alexia reflected on how far they’ve come in their relationship.
“I feel like Alexia and I just always were like argumentative. Everything she said sparked me, everything I said sparked her, we never really got down to getting to know each other,” Stephanie began on the September 11 episode of the RHOM: After Show.
After starting off on the wrong foot, however, Stephanie and Alexia found a common ground as they made an effort to get to know each other better and “actually opened up” during a spa date.
“I just learned more about her, and I learned more about how her sister situation obviously affects her, my sister situation affects me. And we got down to getting to know each other more,” she explained.
Because she didn’t understand Alexia’s situation with Todd, Stephanie admittedly perceived Alexia as “weak.”
“I didn’t know what she was going through. From the outside looking in, she looked weak, and I, personally, Stephanie, couldn’t imagine being in her shoes … but I got to know her and I really do love her,” Stephanie concluded.
Meanwhile, Alexia said she was really “happy” to have bonded with Stephanie at the spa since her castmate was able to see what she was going through and apologize. She also insisted she was not weak.
“Me being in love with Todd or still being in this relationship doesn’t mean that I’m weak. So it’s actually offensive when you’re trying to empower someone, that’s not something a woman would call another woman,” she stated.
Looking back on their past tensions, Alexia said “many things” went down between her and Stephanie before noting that she wanted “to forget about them and … move forward.”
“I feel like now that she has more information about my situation and she’s gotten to know who I am, she’s gonna be kinder and more open to having a friendship with me,” Alexia noted.
During another segment, Alexia spoke of Marysol’s criticisms of Todd.
“I’m never gonna be mad at [Marysol] … [She] always told me in real life what [she] thought, so what [she] said on camera was exactly what [she] was telling me in our conversations,” she reasoned.
Then, after Marysol reflected on the “long, dark, hard road” Alexia has been on, mentioning that Alexia has Frankie with her “24 hours a day,” Alexia admitted to feeling “overwhelmed.”
“I was overwhelmed, trying to film the show, plus my business and everything else that that entails. It’s a lot,” she shared.
The Real Housewives of Miami season seven airs Thursdays at 9/8c on Bravo.