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Monique Samuels accused her ex-husband, Chris Samuels, of acting inappropriately with their kids and telling them she cheated during an interview on Tuesday.
Ahead of the January 4 release of her new book, Love Letters from Versions of Myself: A Memoir of Self-Discovery, Transformation, and Healing, the 42-year-old Real Housewives of Potomac star admitted that things between her and Chris, 48, have gotten “worse” as she spoke of his alleged abuse, claimed he keeps a folder of photos of her post-split, and denied reports that she’s dating her former radio show co-host, Jason Weems.
“I stayed pretty quiet, and I tried my best not to bash because I didn’t want it to affect our co-parenting, and he got to the point where he started saying very inappropriate things to the children,” Monique shared on the December 2 episode of Angela Yee’s Lip Service, via The Bravo Shade Room on Instagram. “He told the children about the video that y’all saw, he actually described it to them, and I’m like, ‘Why are you telling’ — at the time, they were 11, nine, and six — ‘Why are you telling children these things?’”
“[He was] twisting the narrative of why the marriage ended, making it like, ‘Oh, your mom was having an affair, and she was cheating,’” she added.
Then, when host Angela pointed out that Monique had written about Chris’ alleged abuse in her book, claiming that witnesses saw him basically pick her up by her throat, Monique admitted to “rationalizing things afterward.”
“It’s like, ‘Well, I did kind of egg it on. I did kind of instigate it.’ And it’s just like, ‘Alright, I’mma just let it go.’ And when you’re in a marriage and when you’ve seen it growing up, it’s almost like, this is normal,” she explained. “And that was one of the biggest things that led me to get to that point where I was like, ‘I can’t do this anymore.’”
According to Monique, it was her children who prompted her to make a change.
“When I started to think about the fact that my children are witnessing me have behavior that’s opposite of what I preach to them, which is self-love, and they’re watching me run myself and deplete myself into the dirt, and this is being allowed … I felt like I just had to keep proving myself and proving myself,” she revealed. “And I’m like, ‘Wait. We’re married. Why should I have to prove myself to a person?’ We’re supposed to be equal.”
Monique was also motivated by other women.
“The reason why I speak out and I’m talking about it more and more about it now is because I felt so alone going through it,” she noted. “I didn’t realize that there were other people that had the same experience until I started talking more about it. And then I would have women DM me that are, like, all age groups. They’re like, ‘What you’re saying, you’re describing exactly how my marriage is. I thought I was the only one.'”
“That was the push for me to just, I’m like, I can’t keep remaining silent and protecting … I feel like, as Black women, we’re just rooted to protect Black men. But Black men gotta step up too,” she added.
Also on the podcast, after claiming Chris started a rumor that she got fired from radio, Monique revealed that Chris has been keeping tabs on her since their divorce.
“He has done so much in the neighborhood, in the streets of Potomac, and anybody that lives in Potomac that has crossed paths with him knows exactly what I’m saying,” she shared. “Within five minutes, he will pull out his phone. My kids even said that he has a whole folder with screenshots and pictures of me. It’s been bad and to the point where he would even tell me, ‘I got eyes on you.’ It’s like, ‘Dude, enjoy your life.’”
Monique went on to say that she’s okay with Chris dating, as long as the woman is good with kids.
“I really do wish him well, but I also wish for him to leave me alone. It’s like, ‘Let me live my life. You’re living your life and dating and doing whatever you wanna do,'” she reasoned.
As for her dating life, Monique confirmed she’s single.
“I’m not even dating. I’m not even to that point yet. And honestly, the way things are panning out, even with that, I would hate to even bring somebody into a situation where he’s acting the way he’s acting, and we’re trying to co-parent,” she explained.
The Real Housewives of Potomac season 10 airs Sundays at 8/7c on Bravo.