The friends reconnect on Monday night’s episode, kicking off new drama for the group.
Brandi Redmond is ready to put her fight with Stephanie Hollman behind her.
“The wounds become open all over again when you're watching it,” she tells ET. “I don't want to put myself [back] in that place.”
The Real Housewives of Dallas stars sit down and hash things out on Monday night’s episode, their first one-on-one meeting since Brandi cut off communication with Stephanie four months prior. The emotional chat was filmed nearly a year ago, and Brandi admits that reliving the feud on TV has been hard.
“I kind of want to jump through the screen and fix it,” Brandi says. “I wish I could go back and tell myself, you know, not to close off, to communicate more.”
The reality star confesses she and Stephanie are giving each other a little space while their feud plays out on the show, sharing “I love yous” at the start of the season with plans to reconnect after Monday’s episode airs.
“It made us stronger,” she says of the fight. “As much as I thought she was hurting me, I was hurting her by what I was doing. I never wanted to be a mean girl. I just wanted to put up this wall ... to see, hey, are you going to miss me? Do you realize what you've done to me?”
The former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader says the feud ran deeper than just the comments Stephanie made about Brandi’s marriage, as cited on the show.
“There were definitely more things that led up to it,” she shares. “Some of it seemed so petty, and that's one of the things we talk about, just the petty BS. I felt like I was being replaced by Cary [Deuber], and there were things that kind of escalated with that, as well.”
Brandi promises Monday night’s sit-down gets the pair back on track and fans will soon see the potty-mouthed, Jesus Juice-drinking besties back to their “old ways.” Of course, that reformed bond changes the group dynamic, throwing Brandi’s newfound friendship with the always explosive LeeAnne Locken for a loop.
“LeeAnne and Stephanie don't get along,” Brandi notes. “Stephanie and I, we basically would always defend each other. We would have each other's back, and I think for the first time, I'm kind of pulling away, letting her deal with her mess.”
“But I'm not gonna lie, I sit there and I'm like, 'Oh my gosh, LeeAnne, this is not the way you communicate with Stephanie,” she adds. “She does not communicate that way.' And that's part of the reason that I don't explode with [Stephanie], because I know how sensitive she is.”
Brandi admits she probably should have asked LeeAnne how anger management was going before she involved her in the drama with Stephanie.
“Obviously, she still needs a lot of work,” she jokes. “There's a disconnect between appropriate behavior sometimes, but more importantly, I'm like -- wait. I have children, and I would never allow my children to behave this way, and how are you behaving this way?”
Apparently at least one of Brandi’s new castmates has the same question about her. The star teases some upcoming headbutting between her and Kameron Westcott.
“We don’t [get along],” she says. “Kameron is very much a prude. I think she takes things a little bit too seriously. I think that she's worried about, you know, the way she's going to look in society, and take it from me sister, if somebody doesn't like you for who you are -- my children were released from a school that didn't accept us and I'm fine with it -- there's a lot of other people that will accept you.”
Yes, Brandi and her husband, Bryan’s, daughters, Brooklyn and Brinkley, were dismissed from their religious private school after season one of RHOD aired, which Brandi admits did make her think twice about signing up for the show again.
“Bryan and I went through a lot,” she says. “With my children, we went through a lot ... I wanted to show people that you can come out on top, and you can be in a better place ... That's why I wanted to come back.”
Season one documented some strain in Brandi and Bryan’s marriage, which Brandi says actually made them a better couple. By watching their fights on TV, they actually learned what they needed to fix.
“It definitely made my marriage stronger,” she shares. “We learned how to communicate, we went to counseling, we renewed our vows.”
The counseling and vow renewal went down off-camera, but Brandi did tease us with what we can still expect to see on season two of Real Housewives of Dallas.
“It is crazy,” she spills. “People are going to be shocked to see the things that are brought up. It gets pretty low and below the belt, from talking about people's sizes to… I mean, it is funny. I'm not gonna lie.”
The Real Housewives of Dallas airs Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on Bravo. Check out the video below for more season two scoop from the cast.