Ashley Darby, 32, may have missed seeing what happened between her Real Housewives of Potomac co-stars Monique Samuels, 36, and Candiace Dillard, 33, when their fight broke out during filming of Season 5, but she sure did hear — and feel it! “I felt the building shaking and I heard glass breaking while I was using the bathroom and almost ran out with my pants around my ankles because I thought that there was a bomb,” Ashley told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY during an Instagram Live episode of TVTalk on Sun. Aug. 16. ” I was like, “Oh my God, we’re under attack! I’ve got to get out of here!”
The fight that Ashley is referring to is the one that viewers saw in the Season 5 trailer which dropped in May, and according to Ashley, it quickly affected the once tight-knit group. In the trailer, viewers could hear yelling and glass breaking as the camera cut to a tearful Monique being confronted at a later date by a few of the ladies, including Gizelle Bryant, 49, who tells her, “I by no means want to be near you.” The trailer ends with people getting held back and looking shocked at what they saw between Candiace and Monique, who subsequently filed complaints against one another for the Oct. 16 alleged incident. The charges have since been dropped.
Ashley was so stunned by what she heard, that she didn’t think twice about busting out of the bathroom sans clothes! ” I thought, ‘Why do I care if my goods are hanging out if we’re literally being blown up?!’ the new mom to son Dean Darby, 1, said. “I didn’t care. I was just ready to high tail out of there and then I peeked out and I saw and I just took care of myself real quick and I ran out.”
Unfortunately, the drama between the ladies has taken a hit on several friendships with the ladies feeling forced to choose sides. “It’s for sure put a wedge in our group,” Ashley said. “I will give Karen credit that she really did try to stay neutral. She tried as best she could, but I think the fact that she has a closer relationship with one versus the other did try to manifest.”
Though Ashley has tried to form her own opinion, it’s hard not to let her own beef with Candiace make her feel loyal to Monique, who she says has had her back during the toughest of times. “There were so many things that went into how I approached the situation,” Ashley shared. “what I’ve been very clear about, last year when I was going through it and I was really sad and everyone was making jokes about my husband and saying the nastiest things about me, the person who had my back the most out of anybody was Monique. The person that called and texted me, checked on me, actually held me down was Monique. And if anything, in that moment of poor judgement that Monique exhibited, the least that I could give her is my support of helping her to get back to a good place and that’s where I will always stand on it.”
The Real Housewives of Potomac airs Sunday at 9pm on Bravo.