Reality Recap: Reunions x2

Julia Lemigova appeared on Watch What Happens Live and faced questions about her wife Martina’s controversial tweets. Dr. Nicole got a warm reception by Real Housewives of Miami fans after reappearing on this week’s episode. Gia Giudice revealed that she isn’t the happiest with how she came across on this season of Next Gen: NYC. And Denise Richard has a post-split glow after a visit to Jennifer Aniston’s stylist. 

Part one of The Valley reunion sees fiery faceoffs between cast

This week, we got the highly-anticipated reunion of The Valley – and the cast covered a lot in the first installment. The episode started off with a candid conversation about body image when Andy questioned Danny and Nia about their decision to “go for it”, which led them to their latest pregnancy, and ultimately their fourth child. Now, they’ll have four under four, Danny’s new favourite slogan.

And though Kristen revealed that she will forever be grateful to Nia for the wealth of resources and knowledge she had been able to provide for her during her pregnancy, the physical impact is something Nia didn’t shy away from talking about this season, or on the reunion.

In a scene with a plastic surgeon, Nia is seen telling the doctor:

“My number one focus would be my breasts They used to be beautiful and perky and great and I feel like they’re down to my belly button. My next concern would be my stomach.”

She goes on to tell the audience that living in L.A. and being in the entertainment industry there’s a certain sense of pressure – which could be the reason Janet said she depended on Adderall and pilates to shed 70 pounds of baby weight.

“I think it’s okay to want to feel good in your skin and also give yourself grace. I really do try to find the balance,” Nia said, before revealing that she will be getting a mommy makeover after this pregnancy, which, the couple has always insisted, will be their last.

This was an incredibly vulnerable and honest conversation to have about the impact that physical changes to the body pregnancy has on women. And perhaps it’s the reason why Brittany and Kristen emphatically offered to also do mommy makeovers alongside Nia. 

This speaks to a sentiment so many women have, and a fear of speaking up about it, as if being critical about the changes motherhood can bring to your body means that you are not inherently grateful to be a mom. You can enjoy motherhood and still be so grateful for what your body did, but not be entirely content with what pregnancy did to your body. Many miss that nuance. 

We also got a deeper look into Jesse and Michelle’s coparenting situation. Michelle revealed that she’s been living with Aaron, so you can bet this was filmed before it was announced that they split. During the conversation, Jesse accused Michelle of weaponizing Isabella, pointing to comments online as backup, which Andy shut down immediately, reminding him it wasn’t up to online commenters to back that claim up. When asked for an example of how Michelle weaponized Isabella, Jesse had Michelle repeat an ultimatum she gave him, which went as follows:

“If you’re not going to allow Isabella to see my mom who is going to die, she will not be flying to Boston for Christmas and spending a week in Boston,” she repeated.

Fellow moms Nia and Janet vehemently agreed with this sentiment. And even personally, despite being Team Jesse for most of this season, I do agree that the death of a parent absolutely warrants grace and a special exception. 

The pair then got into a spat about double standards they had as it pertained to introducing people to their daughter Isabella. It was agreed that they would not introduce anyone to her until they both agreed it was okay. But when Jesse started bringing Isabella around a girl he was dating, all the while forbidding Michelle to bring Aaron around her because “he was a guy”, Michelle decided to toss the rule book in the garbage. 

In instances like these, it becomes a bit clearer some of the struggles Michelle might have been dealing with in her marriage: double standards, being spoken down to, having to cater to unfair expectations or a set of rules that Jesse himself was not following. It’s part of the reason reunions are so necessary for reality shows, it fills in the blanks.

But my favourite blanks that were filled in on this particular reunion were the ones between Jax and Brittany, who read Jax for filth at every opportunity, from telling him (and all of the audience) that he had a ‘dirty dick’ and that he used to show her the texts from the infamous boys chat.

But also, it was Brittany bravely and boldly lifting the veil about what had transpired since their separation, which, according to her, included physical abuse, particularly when he found out she was dating his old pal Julian.

“He got extremely aggressive. He threw the coffee table, it landed on my knee. It turned black immediately. He threw both bar stools. He threw my Stanley cup and broke it. He threw my phone and broke it. He threw my laptop and broke it. He threw me into the rosebush,” Brittany explained, only some of which Jax denied, but Brittany says the footage is on tape thanks to her Ring camera.

She also explained why she went after Julian, saying that after losing her ‘sparkle’ at the hands of Jax, Julian gave her attention and what she needed in the moment.

“I had your son and then you body-shamed me for stretchmarks,” she said. “Literally called me a tree trunk because I had stretchmarks.” 

She revealed that despite their divorce not being final, she has full custody and that she does plan on giving him access to their son every other Wednesday and every other weekend, so long as he passes drugs tests. 

When Jax tries to make himself out to be less of a villain than he really is, saying he never wanted to uproot their son from his home, she reminds him of this:

“I had to be the one to take our autistic son and move him from Airbnb to Airbnb knowing that he needs stability…and then you didn’t pay the mortgage for seven months.”

Then, she asks the question that I’m certain is on all of our minds: 

“He went through my trash cans. Went through drawers. Counting condoms. Your personality is so sporadic. So if it isn’t the drugs, if it isn’t alcohol, then why are you just as crazy as you were before?”

Let’s hope he’s got an answer for that by the second installment. 

Real Housewives of Atlanta reunion concludes

The final installation of the Real Housewives of Atlanta reunion aired and if I were a judge, which I suppose we all are, I’d say Drew Sidora walked away as the winner. With reunions, there are no winners and losers, per se, but there are winners in the sense that some cast members had a stronger season or reunion performance than others. And that was certainly the case for Drew.

Drew had an incredibly complex and compelling storyline this season – moreso than her castmates. Between her ongoing divorce from a man who was confined to living in the basement of their shared marital home, going through the legal process and trying to keep the documents surrounding her divorce from going public, to pushing her music career forward with the help of one of her castmate’s exes – she gave us a lot this season.

Shamea, too, had a lot going on. Between her insane wealth, her burgeoning music career and attempt to have another baby via surrogate, she had all the right ingredients for a strong debut season. For the most part, that is what we got from her. But in the last few weeks I think a lot of us are in agreement that her issues with Porsha had taken a very dark and simultaneously petty life of their own, especially her weird YouTube video release, which included an apology to the cast, which she shared this week.

Social media surrounding Angela Oakley appears to be pretty favourable, with a lot of viewers in agreement that she was able to hold her own, push back and act as a sort of mediator at times, which Cynthia, who was on the show as a friend rather than a full-time cast member, was also able to execute masterfully.

With rumours about who will be returning with a peach next season, it’s anyone’s guess who the cast will be and where they’ll pick up from. But until NeNe Leakes returns, this show will never be what it once was.