Yahoo News Monique Samuels Reveals Rumor Driving RHOP Drama: That Baby Chase Is Not Husband Chris' Child
Monique Samuels Says 'The Door is Completely Closed' to Repairing Some of Her 'RHOP' Friendships
"I try to stay away from the drama unless you come for me first," says Monique Samuels
Monique Samuels is setting the record straight about the actual rumor that severed her friendship with Candiace Dillard and stirred drama on The Real Housewives of Potomac.
On the Sept. 29 episode of Bravo's The Daily Dish podcast, Samuels, 36, claimed that an ex-friend of hers, along with former Housewife Charrisse Jackson Jordan, said that Samuels was "having an affair with the trainer and my pregnancy was not with Chris." (Jackson Jordan has denied spreading this gossip.)
Samuels and husband Chris Samuels welcomed their youngest child, son Chase, in November 2018.
Gizelle Bryant had said this season that the rumor was that Samuels and her trainer were hanging out and Samuels' NFL player husband found out.
As for why Bryant's version of the rumor is different, Samuels said the My Word author, 50, "just created that."
"She took the same situation, but she just put a spin on it," Samuels, 36, said of Bryant.
Sophy Holland/Bravo The Real Housewives of Potomac
RELATED: RHOP's Monique Samuels Opens Up About the ‘Disgusting' Rumors Spread About Her Marriage
Samuels said Bryant even hinted at the real rumor during a recent appearance on Watch What Happens Live when asked by host Andy Cohen "What do you think about Monique saying you and Jamal aren't really back together?"
"She said, 'Well, we are. He's my actual ex-husband and the actual father of my kids,'" Samuels recalled Bryant saying.
Getty Images TOUT ONLY DO NOT USEMonique Samuels Says 'The Door is Completely Closed' to Repairing Some of Her 'RHOP' Friendships
Samuels explained on The Daily Dish podcast that she felt Bryant's comments were a "shot" at her.
"I knew what she was talking about," Samuels said of Bryant hinting at the rumor. "She was taking a shot because that's what she wanted to bring on the show — another lie — but she realized that if she went that deep off into, who would look terrible? Her. Children are off limits. We will deal with this at the reunion."
So, how does Dillard fit into all of this?
Samuels claimed on the podcast that Dillard has known about the rumor all along and still invited Jackson Jordan, 55, to her anniversary party.
Mediapunch/Shutterstock; Dominik Bindl/FilmMagic Monique Samuels, Candiace Dillard
"The situation with Charrisse is not an issue of, 'Oh she brought her around and I didn't know they were friends.' Charrisse had been involved in helping facilitate some very nasty stuff about me ... so when Candiace then brought her around on camera, that to me was signaling like 'Woah, you're being messy and you already know what she's capable of.' I was like, 'I thought we were supposed to be friends.' We had just had a conversation about all of this, so for her to act like she doesn't know why I'm upset with Charrisse, I was baffled," Samuels explained.
Samuels also said that Dillard, 33, spoke about the real rumor during a previous Instagram Live.
Samuels explained that Dillard was discussing the gossip with Bryant and Robyn Dixon and told them, "That's not going to fly because Chase looks just like Chris."
"That's why we then see Gizelle have her own take and left it as 'Monique has been seen around town with the trainer.' I ave not been seen around town with the trainer," Samuels said.
As viewers know, Dillard and Samuels fell out on-camera after Jackson Jordan showed up at Dillard's bash earlier in the season. The tension ultimately led to the explosive physical altercation that aired on Sunday, with Samuels appearing to drag Dillard by the hair and hit her on the head.
Contrary to what Samuels stated on the podcast, Dillard recently asserted on The Wendy Williams Show that she was not involved in the whisperings about Monique's personal life and remains "confused" about what led to their brawl.
Monique and Chris Samuels
"If she had asked me — which she never had a conversation with me about these rumors that she heard — she would have gotten clarity that I was never a part of a spin, a spreading or a plot," Dillard told host Wendy Williams. "The fact that she's now using that to justify what she did is poppycock. If you pay attention to the season, she never brings up these rumors and this plotting during the season. It only comes out and becomes an issue after we've wrapped filming. She was looking for a reason to justify attacking another Black woman on national television."
RELATED: RHOP's Candiace Dillard Is 'Still Confused' About Monique Samuels Fight: 'I'm Not Okay'
Samuels also addressed the fight on the podcast, insisting it was not "premeditated."
"I just want the fans to know that this wasn't something that was premeditated; this was something that was based off of energy being returned. And it just turned into something just very ugly," Samuels said on the podcast.
She added that she wishes "none of it ever happened" and that she would have just decided to "walk away."
Dillard echoed similar sentiments on The Wendy Williams Show, saying, "This is never somewhere that I saw myself being at any time."
"I'm not a fighter. It's not what I do and having gone through this and having dealt with the trauma of it — it's not what I see my legacy being," Dillard added.
RHOP airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.
