The Real Housewives of Potomac’s Candiace Dillard Bassett was deeply hurt by her costar and former friend Robyn Dixon fueling rumors that her husband, Chris Bassett, cheated on her.
“It was gut-wrenching. It was like stabbing me in my front and it almost felt a little bit — it felt intentional,” Candiace, 37, exclusively told Us Weekly on Thursday, January 18, while promoting season 8 of RHOP.
She continued, “It felt like she was doing it to purposefully hurt me, and that hurt a lot. You think you know people, and everyone deserves the space to be hurt and behave uncharacteristically because they’re hurt, but I just personally never saw that coming from Robyn.”
The drama began after a woman named Ayanna Williams came forward in October 2023 claiming she’d had an affair with Chris. Later that month, Robyn, 44, and fellow RHOP star Gizelle Bryant said they found the story credible during an episode of their “Reasonably Shady” podcast. (Williams later admitted in November 2023 that she’d lied about the affair.)
“Be careful how you respond or react to other people’s drama because your ass may be caught up in some similar s—t,” Robyn said. She was seemingly referring to Candiace’s anger when it was revealed during season 7 of RHOP that Robyn hid her husband Juan Dixon’s infidelity rumors while participating in speculation that Chris had been inappropriate with other women.
Gizelle, 53, chimed in to say, “And when your friends try to tell you about your husband, you might wanna listen.”
Candiace and Robyn’s friendship further deteriorated after Candiace took to X in October 2023 to blast Robyn and Gizelle’s comments. She implored the two women to “shut the f—k up and worry about your boyfriends-for-hire and cheating husbands.”
During a January episode of RHOP, Robyn called Candiace’s X tirade “unforgivable” and said the group should not “weaponize” social media against each other. Candiace told Us why she found the conversation so frustrating.
“You’re so angry with me for tweeting my feelings about your clown behavior, if you ask me. And everyone else has also had opinions, your best friend has shaded you in confessionals and had things to say about your husband that are unsavory and mean-spirited,” she said, referring to Gizelle. “But me speaking on your clown behavior is somehow unforgivable. It feels like a concerted effort to try and push me somewhere into a corner.”
Candiace added that it feels “like the Twilight Zone” to watch Robyn harp on the issue.
“Robyn has always, in my mind, been the most levelheaded and the most sane of the group,” she explained. “And that’s kind of why I gravitated toward her. But she’s painting this narrative that exists in her head, and I can apologize where I have hurt her, but I can’t accept that what I’ve done is unforgivable when we as an audience have watched truly unforgivable things happen and you have gotten over them.”
The Bravolebrity noted that repairing her friendship with Robyn is “a matter of needing to hear each other and wanting to fix” their problems. “I’m not sure at this point if Robyn even wants to fix it and if that’s the case, then that’s her decision,” Candiace said, adding that it’s “unfortunate” that Robyn “would choose this hill to die on.”
As for Candiace’s relationship with Gizelle, the pair have been on bad terms since Gizelle claimed during a season 7 episode of RHOP, which aired in October 2022, that Chris made her feel “completely uncomfortable” by allegedly inviting her into a hotel room for a private conversation.
“It’s actually very weird the way that [Gizelle] has chosen to take up arms on this when all you have to do is apologize and stop adding fuel to a very dangerous fire,” Candiace said of the pair’s dynamic. “You cannot accuse my husband of forcing you into a hotel room. That is a categorical lie. And you’re adding to the list of reasons why I would never want to be friends with you. So, stop lying and we can talk about a friendship. But until then, I don’t see it for her.”
Season 8 of The Real Housewives of Potomac premiered in November 2023. New episodes air on Bravo Sundays at 8 p.m. ET.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
