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Jesse Lally spoke out about his ex-wife, Michelle Saniei, dating rapper Dr. Dre while out in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
Days after Michelle, 37, and Dre, 61, were first spotted holding hands at Nobu, the 45-year-old cast member of The Valley, who shares a six-year-old daughter, Isabella, with his former spouse, shared his reaction to the news, also addressing her brief flirtation with Tom Schwartz, 43, and poking fun at the 24-year age gap between the new couple.
“I mean, look, Michelle’s divorced and she’s single and whatever makes her happy is cool,” Jesse told TMZ on April 28. “I just hope that she continues to be a great mom to Isabella and has Isabella’s best interest at heart because I don’t think we can deal with the same collateral damage that we dealt with with [Aaron Nosler] and Michelle breaking up, so I just hope she’s really focused on Isabella right now. Other than that, she can do whatever she wants. You know, she’s single.”
As Valley fans will recall, Michelle and Aaron split last July after dating for just one year — and just months after moving in together. Michelle then got a bit flirty with Tom amid season three.
“I thought it was cute, and it was kind of funny, the Tom and Michelle aspect of it. But that was never gonna happen,” Jesse said in response. “We’re all very good friends, but the Dr. Dre thing … [I] didn’t see that one coming.”
Continuing on, Jesse confirmed he “did not get a heads up” and “saw [the first photos of Michelle and Dr. Dre] on social media the same way as everybody else.”
He then poked fun at the decades between them.
“Michelle, I don’t even think she ever listened to rap music. So dating Dr. Dre? Good for her. But, hey, the N.W.A is the first cassette I ever bought in 1988 — the year Michelle was born — so good for her,” he laughed. “Listen, she’s happy, she’s single, she can do whatever she wants. I just want her to like, really like focus on making sure that Isabella doesn’t have to go through what Isabella went through with the Aaron breakup. Because it was really difficult on all of us.
“Good for her. Go get it,” he added.
Meanwhile, according to a second report from TMZ on April 29, insiders said that while a couple of members of Michelle’s inner circle knew about her romance with Dr. Dre, most of her Valley castmates were blindsided, feeling shocked and confused by their recent debut.
As for how the couple met, an insider suggested that they have mutual friends, with Michelle’s best friend dating Dr. Dre’s best friend and working for the rapper and his label.
The Valley season three airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on Bravo.