Credit: Bravo
Lala Kent looked back on her encounter with Danny Booko after Wednesday’s episode of The Valley.
Following her heated dispute with Danny, 42, which began after she called him out for his treatment of wife Nia Booko, 36, Lala recalled being “triggered” by her castmate, who proceeded to poke fun at her past trauma, as he and Nia shaded her for her involvement in their marriage, and the rest of the cast weighed in.
“I’ve been working on this new version of myself where I’m not so much of a reactor, and so I made sure when I heard him speaking to Nia that way, I made sure, like, are we in character right now or are we trying to be a d*ck? When I continued hearing it, and I continued to hear Nia asking him to please stop talking to her that way is when I went in. She’s hanging on by a thread, and she still is getting you ready to dress up like a woman, okay? Just say thank you,” Lala, 35, began on the May 20 episode of The Valley: After Show.
Although Danny suggested he was joking with Nia, Lala said he continued to talk that way once she left the room.
“It was not a joke, because if it was a joke, your wife would be laughing,” she added.
Looking back, Lala said Danny’s tone set her off.
“I was extremely triggered by just his tone of voice, what he was saying. I just didn’t like it,” she explained. “Even now, my heart is pounding because I have never had anybody mock [what I went through]. For us to have that interaction, I was shocked. I felt a little disoriented by it, because being triggered by something means that it is taking you back to a place that is very familiar and it’s dark and it’s traumatic for you.”
As for whether she had regrets about confronting Danny, Lala confirmed she did not, further sharing that Nia “thanked” her.
Meanwhile, in his own segment, Danny admitted he was “in a little bit of a mood” on the day in question.
“I was in the wrong for this and should have never spoken to her in that tone, whether it was joking, whether it was a combination of multiple things. I always want to love, honor, and respect my wife, and I wasn’t doing that in that moment,” he stated.
Still, he pointed out that Lala was the only one who confronted him.
“Nobody else, you know, felt the need to come in and step in or whatever; it didn’t get too crazy enough for that. I think she saw a chance to insert herself into something and then threw that word out,” Danny suspected of Lala’s use of the word “triggered.”
“I never should’ve continued to do that. Obviously, I was just upset. I felt like she was coming in with an ulterior motive to stir the pot, and so I, then, wanted to say something back that, you know, was hurtful, or, you know, attack back,” Danny explained as Nia also mentioned he felt “attacked.”
“I don’t always love how he responds, but I understand why, when he’s responding to people coming at him in a certain way that feels he’s attacked,” she shared.
According to Nia, she felt Lala was “sticking her nose in things that are not hers to jump into.”
“We are a couple that have been together for a long time. We were both sleep-deprived, freshly postpartum, all that, so yes, we have tense moments, but we also move past them. So it’s not necessarily someone’s place to jump in between our tense moments,” she stated. “We know what we’re doing in this relationship. We get it figured out, even if it’s not perfect every time.”
Elsewhere, as Michelle Saniei, 37, said it felt “normal” for Lala to step in, Jasmine Goode, 38, pointed out that Lala was new to their group.
“She’s never been on a trip with us. She hasn’t really been in this environment with Nia and Danny. So like, for her to hear how they talk to each other, it’s probably like, ‘Huh? What?’ But us, it’s like, okay, they talk like that,” she explained.
As for the guys, Luke Broderick, 35, said he would’ve told Lala to “piss off” if she were Danny, and Jesse Lally, 46, defended Lala.
“I can see where Lala’s coming from because you don’t know what certain people’s triggers may be, and it might be raising your voice. You don’t know what Lala dealt with in her previous relationship,” he noted.
The Valley season three airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on Bravo.