If you thought ‘The Real Housewives: Ultimate Girls Trip’ season three found Gizelle Bryant and Candiace Dillard in a better place than where they left off after ‘The Real Housewives of Potomac’ season 7 — think again.
via Page Six:
Dillard, 36, teases on Page Six’s “Virtual Reali-Tea” podcast where she stands with her “demon” co-star after spending eight days with her in Thailand for the Peacock spinoff.
“I’m around all these new girls. The one girl that I know really well is a demon, so, like, who are my friends? I felt just alone,” says the “Real Housewives of Potomac” personality, recounting the “bad anxiety” she felt after traveling across the globe from Maryland to Phuket.
Dillard was initially hesitant about divulging her feelings to the cast, also including Alexia Nepola and Marysol Patton of “Miami,” Heather Gay and Whitney Rose of “Salt Lake City,” Leah McSweeney of “New York City” and Porsha Williams of “Atlanta.”
“It didn’t feel appropriate to talk about in front of strangers, so I was just in my room,” the “Drive Back” singer tells us. “My mom [Dorothy Dillard] was checking in on me every morning, like, ‘How are you doing? It’s gonna be fine, you’re gonna be great.’”
Luckily, Candiace had Dorothy to confide in over the phone as she was certain Bryant, 52, was incapable of offering meaningful support in her time of distress.
“You can’t expect humanity from just a rock,” she quips. “Rocks don’t have feelings.”
Candiace — who eventually established good relationships with the majority of the “RHUGT” ladies and became particularly close with McSweeney, 40 — was not only processing feelings of isolation but recovering from a heated fight with husband Chris Bassett that took place before the trip kicked off.
“I was still dealing with a lot of feelings about Chris and I not speaking and having literally gotten into a huge argument five minutes before going to get in my car and go to the airport and not being able to resolve it,” she says, adding that she is currently in a “great place” with Bassett, whom she wed in 2018 and remains “obsessed” with.
“Then there are things happening in my family that I can’t talk about that were affecting me, too,” she elaborates.
“And then hearing everybody else tell their personal stories and then talk about their families and what they had gone through, it was just a wave of emotion washing over me.”
Notably, Candiace is removed from any anger she felt while filming the recent “RHOP” Season 7 reunion.
With Andy Cohen there to moderate, she and Bassett, 44, confronted Bryant for claiming that the chef made her feel “completely uncomfortable” during a one-on-one discussion that occurred backstage at the Season 6 reunion the year prior.
Bassett vehemently denied Bryant’s account, while Candiace defended her spouse’s character.
“Both Chris and I … left the reunion feeling like we left everything on the couches. And I was really proud of Chris because I think he emoted well and I was happy that he finally got to speak on the stage where everybody’s eyes and ears are open,” the “Hush” actress says.
“And we left everything there.”
Bryant boasted during a January appearance on “Virtual Reali-Tea” that she would not “hold back” while addressing the drama at the reunion — but seemingly decided to take a softer approach once cameras went up.
“Chris was like, ‘So you said you had all this other stuff to say … you have the floor,’” Candiace says of an interaction that didn’t make the final cut. “She’s like, ‘I’m just not going to say anything right now.’”
The former pageant queen previously told Page Six that Bassett was “not well” after Bryant perpetuated the gossip.
“She painted a picture of him that didn’t belong to him,” she said in January. “She created a narrative that was completely false and damaging and hurtful.”
These days, Candiace isn’t concerned about any leftover discord with Bryant. Instead, she is laser-focused on touring the country in support of her “Deep Space Deluxe” album, which dropped in December 2022.
“It’s gonna be fun,” she enthuses, marveling at a lengthy schedule that began March 17 in Boston and concludes Oct. 9 in Atlanta. “But I need a coffee IV!”
Watch Candiace speak on everything below.
