She wasn’t the friend she thought. Real Housewives of Dubai Star Sara Al MadaniA wake-up call about her friendship to costars Chanel Ayan Lesa MilanAfter watching the Bravo series.
“I’ve done so much for Ayan. I was always by her side, and I got her back, so I felt like we were building a friendship,” Sara exclusively revealed on the Thursday, August 18, episode of Us Weekly’s “Getting Real with the Housewives” podcast. “Lesa, our energies don’t match, which is OK. You don’t have to be best friends with everyone you meet. It’s not normal. You don’t have to be the same person as you. I didn’t have any expectations from Lesa. I did from Ayan and then when I watched the show, I was like, ‘Hold on, that’s insane. I’m not preachy.’”
Sara Al Madani and Chanel Ayan. NBC (2)
In a recent episode, the Bravo star told the model that it was “never too late” to be like her, but the full story was not shown, which is why she was “shocked” that Chanel publicly said that Sara was “so full of herself.”
“For her to take that story and to like victimize herself, I mean, we’ve all been through traumas in life, but that’s not an excuse for us to treat people in any bad way or behave in any certain way, because maturity is figuring out what your issues are and solving them and helping yourself,” Sara explained to Us. “It’s not treating people badly and saying, ‘Hey, I’ve been traumatized.’”
The Wednesday, August 17th episode of RHODubai, Chanel and Sara visited a hypnotherapist. Chanel shared details about her past, including forced generation mutilation in Africa at the age 5.
“The crying, the sadness, the beatings. That’s what I remember. A lot of pain,” Ayan said while fighting back tears. “We were tied in the legs. Couldn’t pee. Couldn’t move. They would take us to the bathroom and carry us onto the grass. I just didn’t understand what the hell was going on whatsoever and my mom didn’t know that that was happening to us.”
After opening therapy, Sara heard from the actress that she was ready and willing to forgive anyone who had wronged her.
While this was a bonding moment for the two castmates, Sara does say that the two now “coexist” and will hash things out at the upcoming reunion.
“I was not nervous because I had nothing to hide,” Sara said of filming her first reunion. “I’ve never said anything about anyone behind their back. There’s no receipts or anything whatsoever. What I was worried about was the capability of some of these girls to lie and make up stuff and defend it and they’re very hostile and aggressive.
She added, “It was like a crazy experience, but I loved it. It was a great opportunity to address issues, to be open about them and to see how people respond and own up to their mistakes. I love how some of the women, and they’re my friends, they own their mistakes, but then you have two of them that will never own their mistakes.”
The Real Housewives of Dubai airs on Bravo Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET.
