A broken friendship. Candiace Dillard-Bassett and Gizelle Bryant shocked viewers when they ignited a feud during season 7 of the Real Housewives of Potomac over claims about Candiace’s husband, Chris Bassett.
Before the season premiered in October 2022, Gizelle teased trying to tell Candiace about a conversation she had with Chris at the season 6 reunion.
“I was very honest about what I felt happened and I wasn’t like shady about it. I didn’t add any hot sauce to it,” the Texas native exclusively told Us Weekly that same month. “I was just like, ‘This is what happened, and I think you should know.’ I didn’t think she was gonna be so angry.”
Gizelle noted that she wasn’t thrilled about how the singer reacted to her concerns, adding, “I’m very clear about what happens. I just didn’t like how it was handled after I was very honest and forthcoming about how things made me feel.”
As cameras were rolling during season 7, the model revealed that a private conversation with Candiace’s husband made her feel uncomfortable. “Many a married man have tried me and I felt like he was trying to see if I was with it,” Gizelle told Robyn Dixon. “He was complaining about his wife. So he was letting me know he was unhappy. Maybe I was supposed to say, ‘Oh, I can make you happy.’ Like, get out of here. He’s a sneaky link!”
Later in the episode, the former Bravo’s Chat Room host attempted to bring the topic up to her costar. Candiace, for her part, tried to stop filming by walking off and calling for a producer.
“If it’s going to be about maligning my f–king husband, you don’t want me here,” the Mississippi native explained, before referring to a 2018 legal case with Ashley Darby‘s husband that was dismissed. “Michael Darby is available for that. The ass-grabbing motherf–ker that likes to actually make people feel uncomfortable, he’s available for that. Not my husband.”
The former Miss United States winner, who exchanged vows with Chris in 2018, took to social media to discuss her complicated feelings about the situation. “The first & most relevant thing I can say is that it’s hard to say anything at all because I #supportwomen I #believewomen and I support #metoo,” she tweeted. “I can’t tell a woman how to feel about a man’s presence in her orbit. We are entitled to our feelings and they should never be diminished or questioned.”
At the time, the “Drive Back” singer referred to Gizelle’s comments as “appalling” and said it would set off “a feral gutter snipe attempt to upend and dismantle these pillars that women have worked so hard to establish.” Candiace also questioned if Gizelle’s accusations were made “in the name of” entertainment.
Gizelle, for her part, stood by her decision to come out with her issues. “If he’s doing things that are making people feel uncomfortable and nobody says anything to him, he’s going to continue to do it,” she said during a confessional on the hit Bravo reality series.
Scroll down for candid comments from the RHOP costars about the drama: