The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Britani Bateman is opening up about her surprising new friendship with costar Mary Cosby.
“I just have always loved her, and I feel like she’s finally not only tolerating me, but she’s starting to love me back,” Britani, 55, exclusively told Us at Warner Bros. Television Group’s 78th Primetime Emmy Awards Nominees Celebration on Sunday, September 13.
Britani shared that their bond had a lot to do with Mary, 53, losing her son, Robert Cosby Jr., in February at age 23.
“I feel like when we are faced with some of the most challenging things in our lives, we really have to reevaluate what’s important and what’s not,” Britani said, while spilling that not every friendship survived season 7.
“Some [friendships] get welded back together, and some of them just icily split more apart. We’ll just have to stay tuned to see which ones those are,” she teased.
Britani got off to a rough start with Mary when she joined RHOSLC for season 5 and made the ultimate rookie mistake by calling high fashion a “costume” while discussing Bronwyn Newport’s $15,000 heart-shaped Saint Laurent coat — and the ever stylish Mary took it personally. Britani kept digging herself into a hole with Mary, using words like “hoarder” and “poor” while trying to connect with her.
Her friendship with Mary isn’t the only one she’s cherishing this season.
“I have really enjoyed the mercurial nature of Bronwyn in my relationship,” Britani told Us. “We come together and then we split apart. I would say that’s the case with all of the women. But I really enjoyed my journey with Bronwyn this season.”
Britani has learned a lot from her castmates over two seasons on the Bravo franchise.
“I wish that someone had told me how fiery these women can be and not to take it so personally,” she shared, referring to the moment she was caught filming her costars during a tense argument in a sprinter van.
“I don’t believe even to this day that was about me. I feel like that was not a ‘what about me’ moment. That was like, ‘What about some pent-up latent aggression toward other castmates,’ like Monica [Garcia],” Britani explained. “So I wish someone had warned me about that. Like, some things are gonna not be about you, so you don’t need to cry your eyes out about it. Brush it off and move on.”
Season 7 also welcomed back Lisa Barlow, Heather Gay, Angie Katsanevas, Meredith Marks and Whitney Rose. While the dynamics of the group have changed, they all came together to support Mary after her son’s death.
Robert Jr. died in February following a battle with addiction.
Mary thanked her costars for showing up for her during her darkest days.
“Well, first of all, they all came over. The doorbell rang, Bronwyn brought her mom. Doorbell rings, and Lisa sent food, sent baskets, sent gifts. Just constantly sending me stuff, constantly showing up, constantly coming over, sitting down, talking to me,” she said during the first episode of the new season, which aired on Wednesday, September 16. “In some ways I felt like I ended up encouraging them. I found strength in them coming to see me, talking to me, keeping me going.”
RHOSLC airs on Bravo Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET. Episodes stream the next day on Peacock.
