Caroline Brooks isn’t going down without a fight. The Real Housewives of Dubai star, who’s currently feuding with her former bestie and co-star Taleen Marie, recently stopped by DECIDER’s studio where she admitted that she had no intentions of apologizing when they hash things out at the Season 2 reunion.
Brooks introduced Marie, her friend of nearly a decade, to the ladies at the start of The Real Housewives of Dubai Season 2. However, they hit a snag in their friendship when Caroline Stanbury made a joke about seeing Marie’s vagina after she drunkenly face-planted at a Beyoncé concert. While Brooks went to bat for Marie, the latter ultimately decided to forgive Stanbury — thus leading to Brooks’ estrangement from both women.
The Glass House owner not only slammed Marie for her lack of loyalty as she grew closer to Stanbury, but she also claimed she helped the rookie reality star get on the show after years of her begging. Marie, for her part, felt that Brooks only wanted her to be her “sidekick,” though noted that she’d be open to moving forward if she received an apology.
But, like Marie told us, it’s looking more and more like “hell would have to freeze over” before Brooks says she’s sorry.
“I think that she’s absolutely delusional,” Brooks told DECIDER. “Taleen needs to grovel at my feet and say sorry for what she’s done. Who put who in whose place? Apologize for what? Should I apologize that you hurt me? Should I apologize for you to me? Because is she insane? Has she lost her mind? Apologize for what? OK. I think she’s officially — Taleen, seek help.”
Tensions reached their boiling point in the show when Brooks had a blowout argument with both Marie and her husband Raffi Khanoyan. Looking back on the heated scene, Brooks said she gave Khanoyan the “chance to not get involved” in her issues with his wife.
“I literally said verbatim, ‘Do not get involved.’ So when he chose that path, rather than taking his wife and leaving, is when the gloves came off,” Brooks said, revealing that the whole ordeal was “a lot bigger” than what viewers saw in the final edit.
When we sat down with Brooks, she dished more on her ongoing drama with Marie, the friendship-ending feud between Chanel Ayan and Lesa Milan, and what we can expect from the cast trip to Bali — which she teased will be “one of the best cast trips anybody’s ever seen.” Check out the full interview below.
DECIDER: Let’s get into it. Earl Grey tea. Who does Adam get his eclectic taste from?
CAROLINE BROOKS: I think Adam was being adventurous. He doesn’t like tea. Even when he’s sick and I’ve tried to give him tea, he’s refused it. So I was surprised that he chose Earl Grey. I’m like, really? He didn’t end up drinking it. Once he had one little sip, he was like, “Ew, this is gross.” I think he thought it sounded cool to do that in front of grandma. He doesn’t like Earl Grey. He ended up ordering a Diet Coke.
You threw Adam a pretty epic birthday party, but not all of your castmates came. How did it make you feel to see Stanbury and Taleen hanging out with each other instead of coming to the party?
I kind of expected that because at that point, I already knew what Taleen was up to. I already knew she was two-faced, and I was like, okay, this doesn’t surprise me.
In terms of her saying I didn’t reach out about the dog, the dog that passed away was her sister’s dog. I texted her [sister] straight away when I found out and I said, “I’m really sorry about your dog.” So she knew that. So I don’t know why her sister sat with her and pretended like she didn’t already hear from me. She did. The sister stayed quiet and called me unhinged at the table. But she knew I texted her and I gave my condolences for the dog, so I thought that was weird. It was really cringe.
I want to get into you and Taleen. Looking back, do you still think Taleen used you? Or do you think she was trying too hard to fit in with the other ladies at your expense?
I think a little bit of both. I definitely think she is a social climber. I heard [this] around Dubai about her prior to bringing her into the show, and I’ve heard she’s fallen out with a lot of her friends, besides me, around Dubai and I didn’t care. I didn’t judge her for that. I knew this was something that she really wanted and, for me, I’m the kind of friend [who] you can ask for anything and I’ll give it to you. That’s the kind of friend I am. So, I knew this was a dream for her to be a part of my friend circle and come on the show and I made it happen, you know, by any means necessary. I told her, “We’re going to make it happen by any means necessary.”
I’ve heard her say recently, publicly, that I tried to get six friends on. I don’t even have six close friends in Dubai. I’m an introvert. My close friends are on the show. It was only Taleen and one other girl. The other girl I didn’t know as well as Taleen, and so I really pushed for Taleen.
I saw early on what she was doing, the game she played. And so when I was in the silver suit, when I disengage from that, I was done. And you’re going to see that kind of play out as it goes. I was done. I understood what she was up to at that very moment. She kind of showed her hand. She did it wrong, because we already had that conversation. So I said, “I’m not having this with you again.” She did it right there on the roof and that’s when I was like, “Yeah, I’m out of here. Bye.”
I remember you telling me a couple months ago, before any of this had even unfolded on the show, that you guys had talked about getting her on the show when it came around the first time.
Oh, yeah. I tried. When I finally told [her] that I was doing Housewives, she was like, almost in tears. Like, “I’ve always dreamed of this.” I was like, “Don’t worry, Tal.” And when I couldn’t get her on the first season, I put her in as many of my scenes as I could. So I was like, let’s start to integrate with the group. I invited her to Lesa’s fashion show [and] Stanbury’s birthday party, which was off the show. I started to invite her out as much as I can with the other girls so she could know them, meet them and greet them and start to have kind of a history with them so it made sense. We really worked hard — I did, that is — because she wouldn’t have come in through anybody else. She doesn’t know anyone on our show, not from anywhere. And so, yeah, when you asked me in the beginning — do you think it was trying to fit in or was it actually using? It was both.
Lesa, Ayan, Stanbury and Taleen get together in tonight’s episode and gossip about you calling Taleen a beggar – but Taleen says she never knew you called her a beggar. What was going through your mind watching that scene?
She’s lying. Because I called her a beggar on my way out of the scene at August on the roof by the elevator shaft. When I was leaving, I said, “You’re a beggar. You begged me to be on this show.” And that’s what she got upset about. [She] spoke to me about it, and I said sorry to her for calling her a beggar. I think we had a phone conversation after that incident happened before I’d seen her the very next time.
I didn’t know Lesa was going to go carry that. So I had actually said sorry about the beggar comment. That’s what I apologized for. I wasn’t apologizing for anything else.
It’s not a very nice thing to call someone, but she did beg. It was repetitive, it was over and over and over again. “Please do whatever you can, please.” Like, begging. She begged to be on the show. And so I was like, “OK doll, I’ll do it.” Like, I’ll do whatever it takes. And I did. So I was honest. It may have been hard to hear, but I was honest.
Things got really tense at Stanbury’s dinner party. Did you expect things to get that crazy? Were you surprised to see Raffi get involved in your drama with Taleen?
I was surprised because I gave Raffi a chance to not get involved. I actually looked at Raffi and said, “Don’t get involved.” I literally said verbatim, “Do not get involved.” So when he chose that path, rather than taking his wife and leaving, is when the gloves came off. That’s when Lesa got involved, because Lesa was a bystander watching, and she noticed how they started both coming at me at the same time. And so she got involved because it made her uncomfortable to see … There’s something gross [about a man going after a woman] and so Lesa was like, “I could not stand back and watch that.” You guys got to see a bit of it, but it was a lot bigger.
Where do you and Taleen stand now? When we spoke to her, she told us she would be open to mending your friendship if you could apologize. Do you think you need to?
I think that she’s absolutely delusional. Taleen needs to grovel at my feet and say sorry for what she’s done. Who put who in whose place? Apologize for what? Should I apologize that you hurt me? Should I apologize for you to me? Because is she insane? Has she lost her mind? Apologize for what? OK. I think she’s officially — Taleen, seek help.
I want anyone to put themselves in my shoes and reenact the whole situation as if you were me and tell me how you would feel. If for years — because it took a little gap in between us filming Season 2 — if for years, you had a person who, she was my good friend and everything, but constantly saying, “This is what I want,” and I made it my sole focus.
I fell out with Stanbury because of Taleen. Caroline Stanbury did not want her on the show. Nina Ali and Sara Al Madani and me and Caroline Stanbury all know that’s the truth. We have a group chat together. Stanbury did not want her on The Real Housewives of Dubai.
When I fell out with Stanbury and Taleen started kissing her butt and Stanbury saw an opportunity, she befriended her to piss me off because she was like, “How dare you choose this new girl over me.” Stanbury was mad at me for going hard, sticking up for Taleen, then became friends with Taleen just to spite me — not because she actually gives a hoot about that girl. I don’t think she could care — they’re going to fall out regardless. Taleen’s personality is not going to jive well with Stanbury in [the] long term. I know this, she’s too much for her, you know what I mean? And she’s trying to be the center of attention. Caroline wants to be the center of attention. How is that going to go well? It’s not. That’s why I said, “Let Taleen burn,” in the last episode. She’ll burn. If me and Stanbury make up, Taleen and Stanbury’s friendship is done.
You said you can’t wait for the reunion. You recently tweeted that something happened between you and Stanbury that “wasn’t shown” on TV – and said watching back, your issues with her are “minimal in comparison” to what you’re seeing on the show. What are you seeing on the show that you weren’t privy to before?
Taleen, the level of two-faced in her family’s behavior. It’s more about the family, that very family I sat in that living room with plotting and planning — for her and the mom and the sister, and for all the little microaggressions they’re dropping, “She’s unhinged. She’s this, she’s that.” Oh, no. Oh, we’re going to address it. Because the audacity — that’s very rich coming from them. Oh, we’re going to address it.
You seem to celebrate the demise of their friendship a little bit in your confessional. Can you talk a bit about why you said you were “here for it”?
I’m not going to lie, I did celebrate it because they were really mean to me in Season 1. They were mean to me, they were mean to Stanbury. They were like the little — I said in my confessionals — dumb and dumber, dynamic duo, whatever you want to call them. It wasn’t for me because they were mean to me. They were always shading me. And I had said in Season 1, “That House of Cards is going to collapse.” And so in confessionals, I said, “The House of Cards is coming down, bitch. And I’m here for it.”
It is what it is. I knew that’s what was going to happen, and that’s kind of, in my opinion, karma. You guys were really mean to me. And I’ll only focus on me. I don’t care what you did to Stanbury. It hurt my feelings. So when I saw them two fall out? Good! This is karma. Now you know how it feels. Don’t be mean to everybody.
That’s why I was more so Team Stanbury Season 1 because they were shady together, those two. And when they clicked up, they were harsh with us. So what was I going to do, cry? Now, post-show, after I saw how hurt Ayan was and Lesa was individually after it all happened, I then said, “I want them to be friends again.” Because I could see the pain. I don’t want anybody to be in pain, you understand? I could see that they were both hurt and missing each other. So I tried my best to put them back together. But I cannot mend that fence. That’s up to them to be able to forgive each other. There’s not much I can do.
Things left off pretty heated in last week’s episode – but we know the Bali trip is coming up. What can you tease about how that’s going to go?
Oh my gosh! I can’t wait to watch it, because I’m hearing two stories. Lesa’s story differs dramatically from Ayan’s story of what actually happened to make their friendship start to slowly blow up before it finally imploded. Their stories differ so dramatically that I want to watch it with everybody too, because I want to see what really happened. There’s two sides to every story and then there’s the truth. Let’s see what really happened, because they cannot agree about what really happened, but I guess we’ll all watch it together. I don’t know what happened. I don’t know who to believe. I’m friends with both of them so it’s hard to understand who was at fault, fully, until we watch it.
I’m excited to see it all play out and I can’t wait to see you guys in Bali!
Bali was so — when I tell you it was fun, oh, we had a good time. That is going to be probably one of the best cast trips anybody’s ever seen. I had a good time with everyone in Bali. There is a brighter side to things — I can tease that. I had a fun time with the girls. I left everything behind in Dubai and I had a really good time and when I have a good time, I have a really good time. So we were having a great time. Stanbury let her hair down. She didn’t have a stick up her bum like she usually does. She let her hair down and we partied. It was really eat, pray, party. It was really that. It’s going to be so much fun to watch.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The Real Housewives of Dubai airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on Bravo. New episodes are available to stream the next day on Peacock.
The post ‘RHODubai’ Star Caroline Brooks Reveals Whether She’ll Ever Apologize To Taleen Marie: “Taleen Needs To Grovel At My Feet” appeared first on Decider.
