Bronwyn Newport
Bronwyn Newport shared her thoughts on The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, and what she’s learned from her time on the show, while appearing on a podcast last week.
As she admitted to feeling like a “snitch,” reacted to Meredith Marks, 54, not being accountable in her alleged plane feud with Britani Bateman, 54, and spoke of her marital problems with Todd Bradley, Bronwyn, 40, accused certain co-stars after displaying edited versions of themselves on the show, explained her real issue with Lisa Barlow, 51, and revealed who she’s closest to on the cast.
“It’s been really interesting getting to know most of the women on the show and really interesting getting to know myself,” Bronwyn noted on the December 9 episode of Lovett or Leave It. “Seeing yourself in a different way, watching yourself back, watching your relationships back, seeing what they look like, maybe seeing a pattern I didn’t know that I had or that I always did … has been eye-opening to say the least.”
According to Bronwyn, she noticed a pattern of snitchery in watching herself back.
“I would’ve said before doing this show that I was a very loyal person. I would’ve said that that’s something that people really valued in their friendships with me and as I watch on the show … I didn’t realize how quick I am to be like, ‘Nope, that’s not what was said. This is what was said.’ I end up kind of spilling the secrets all the time, and it took people kind of saying, ‘I don’t like that about you. As I watch the show, I don’t like how often it seems like you run and tell.’”
Although Bronwyn hoped for accountability when she shared what her co-stars said about the cast, she felt differently after the scenes aired.
“I’m like, ‘I’m kind of a snitch actually. That isn’t so fun. I don’t love that about me,’” she admitted.
Looking back at her decision to speak of Meredith with Whitney Rose, 39, Bronwyn said she “thought it was the right thing to do” at the moment.”
“I really am trying to be friends with Whitney, and I really am trying to be friends with Meredith. And Whitney was telling me something about her experience with Meredith on a plane that she really wanted to confide in me, and then I thought, ‘Damn, my friend Meredith is really gonna hate that we had this conversation and it’s gonna surprise her,’” she explained.
In learning about what went down between Meredith and Britani from both sides of the situation, Bronwyn initially felt like someone was exaggerating — at the very least.
“I had a lot of questions about how it could’ve happened the way everyone said, without there being some sort of video, photo, law enforcement, banned from American Airlines, I don’t know. I was like, ‘There’s no way this happened,’” she shared. “[But] everyone has a pretty similar story, other than Lisa and Meredith, of what happened.”
As for Meredith’s lack of accountability, Bronwyn suggested that she should have acknowledged her co-stars’ feelings.
“Meredith doesn’t think she did anything wrong, and that’s fair, she can think that way, but she has to, in a group of friends, be able to hear many of her friends saying, ‘You made us feel uncomfortable. You made so-and-so feel scared. You made so-and-so cry. This person felt like you were out of control.’ And at least be able to say, ‘Okay, I went further than I thought,’ or, ‘I went too far for you,’” she reasoned. “To not have anything to be sorry for when everyone feels so wronged, I don’t know.”
Moving on to her thoughts on the cameras, Bronwyn confessed to being “a little defensive of [herself] and [her] family.”
“Since the cameras have been here, I happen to have had a very difficult two years — lots of health problems in my family and some marital challenges that the spotlight magnifies and all these kinds of things,” she explained.”
That said, she did her best to prioritize self-revelation over self-preservation.
“You can’t be friends with somebody if you don’t reveal who you are and be vulnerable with them,” she stated, adding that certain women show a “more controlled” version of themselves on camera.
“There does feel like this dynamic shift, maybe within the group of people who are willing to share, people who are willing to admit when they’re wrong, people who want to hear what other people are saying, and some friends in the group who maybe don’t want to be told when they’ve hurt you or when they’re wrong or when you differ from them,” she signaled.
Moving on to Lisa, Bronwyn said the two of them have had a hard time in their relationship.
“Lisa says we were acquaintances before the show. I thought we were friends. Whatever that is, it’s different now than it used to be, for sure, and I’m as much to blame for that, I think, as she is, if I’m being totally fair and taking my own culpability in things,” she admitted. “But I think part of it is, for me, the friendship is more important and … maybe the show is more important for Lisa.”
“She wants to be right on camera. She wants the audience to feel like what she did and how she handled me was correct, whereas I don’t really care what the audience thinks about her versus me. I’d like it to be good between us, or at least neutral,” Bronwyn continued.
As for the straw that broke the camel’s back, Bronwyn pointed to a moment from season five.
“Lisa was willing to say things about my family that I don’t think she would’ve wanted said about her family on camera. So I kept feeling like, okay, well, if we’re not friends, it’s not any of your business what happens in my family, and if we are friends, and you wouldn’t put that on camera, why should I?” she asked.
“And I don’t ever know if we are show friends or real friends. I think maybe right now, we’re neither,” she added.
Then, after revealing that she brought up a tweet that accused Todd of cheating on her because she thought that was the plane drama her castmates were in an uproar about, Bronwyn confirmed who she’s closest to on the cast.
“[Mary Cosby], Whitney, [Angie Katsanevas], in that order, are who I’m closest with,” she shared. “I speak to Mary quite a bit, and it is me reaching out. I love Mary, I love confiding in Mary. I love when Mary kind of sets me straight when I’m spiraling out of control. Mary might be the softer Todd in my life at this point. And Todd and Mary actually really get along and really respect each other, which I appreciate and love.”
“Whitney and I have spent a lot of time together this season … I respect most of what Whitney does, and I respect that when I don’t respect what she’s done, that she can handle that … not everybody can handle that,” Bronwyn went on.
Regarding the rest of the cast, Bronwyn said she likes Angie, is in a “good place” with Heather Gay, 51, and is in a “decent place” with Britani.
“Meredith and I were really bonding over certain things this season, and it was really meaningful to me … [I’m] trying to figure out if Meredith and I are as close as I think we are and if we are, can that new closeness sustain some criticism I have for her,” she concluded.
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City season six airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on Bravo.