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Candiace Dillard-Bassett is speaking out against Michael Darby amid his $2 million lawsuit against her.
While also addressing the recent cheating rumors made against her husband, Chris Bassett, and calling out Robyn Dixon, 45, for betraying Bravo and the Real Housewives of Potomac cast, Candiace, 37, slammed Michael’s lawsuit as “gross” as she spoke of Ashley Darby‘s potential involvement — and her castmate’s daddy issues.
“There is a lawsuit. I can speak on him I just chose not to. He’s not worth it. It’s really gross,” Candiace stated on the January 22 episode of Way Up With Angela Yee of the case Michael filed against her after she suggested he’d offered to pay another man for sex.
As for what Ashley, 35, knows of her estranged husband‘s lawsuit, Candiace said she’s “hands-off.”
“She says to me that she knows nothing about it. They don’t talk about it. And I believe her, only because the Ashley that I know, if she had information, she’d be going to the rooftops. She would be talking about it and so she’s not. So I believe she’s not privy to most, or any of what’s happening,” Candiace explained.
Candiace was then asked why Ashley’s divorce from Michael had been so drawn out.
“She’s admitted to having daddy issues. I think her husband was someone who came into her life at a time when she needed to be rescued and needed to feel like this is a man who is going to fill a void that my father left and that can be a very tough bond to break,” Candiace noted. “He essentially saved her and put her in a position to be successful and that can be difficult. That’s a difficult tie to break, and then they have children together now.”
“I don’t say this in a shady way, but he sort of raised her up and helped her become a woman, so I get her having hesitation in breaking that bond,” she added. “I get it, but I am also really rooting for her to run.”
Last year, ahead of the RHOP season eight premiere, Candiace found her name in the headlines as Chris was accused of cheating on her — and getting another woman pregnant. But weeks later, the woman accuser confirmed she’d made the entire story up.
Looking back, Candiace said she can see how someone who isn’t in her situation would wonder if she considered the claims could be true.
“It was just so preposterous because I know my husband. I have to beg him to leave the house and go downtown to D.C. to take me to dinner,” she revealed. “He’s a homebody. You mean to tell me this man got on a flight and flew to wherever this lady was to repeatedly have sexy time with her and get her pregnant? There were just so many preposterous bullet points that made it untrue. I know where Chris is all the time because we’re constantly talking … It just is not something that he would do … It was almost laughable. It really was.”
Even Candiace’s mom Dorothy, who has had her fair share of drama with Chris in the past, knew Chris was innocent.
“She was angry. She was like, ‘Who is this beep, bleep, bleep? These people are crazy just lying on Chris,’” Candiace shared. “She knows Chris’ character. She knows he is a good person and so does everyone.”
Although Candiace confirmed that she thought about suing the woman for defamation for “a second,” she and Chris are “not litigious people” and didn’t want to disturb their peace.
“We can just pray about it and know that God is covering us and it will pass,” she reasoned.
As RHOP fans well know, a number of cast members have been targeted with cheating rumors over the years, including Robyn’s husband, Juan Dixon, 45. However, rather than discuss the topic, as she did when other parties were involved, Robyn chose to keep her marital turmoil private.
“You are paid a lot of money to talk about your life on this show, and you watched your friend [Gizelle Bryant] drag my husband through the mud for a lie, and you had a real situation going on,” Candiace said.
Because Candiace also tweeted about the matter, Robyn took issue with her, which Candiace found “[strange].”
“You’re choosing to really zero in on my Twitter op-ed, my opinion. There was no emotion. I wasn’t angry or upset. I was stating facts,” Candiace clarified. “[And] I stand by what I said … I said it to her face. It’s not something I feel like I was sneaking and stabbing her in her back. I said what the world was saying. I said what the entire cast was saying.”
According to Candiace, she feels that Robyn is using her Twitter postings as an excuse.
“I just feel like she’s using it as a way to distract from the issue, which is that you betrayed your cast,” Candiace revealed. “You betrayed the people that pay you to talk about your life … Everybody was [upset with her]. Her bosses that sign her checks were upset with her. Everybody was pissed.”
Although Candiace doesn’t agree with Robyn’s handling of the situation, she confirmed she does not believe she should be fired.
“Even in the face of the cast and the audience for years saying, ‘Robyn should be fired. She’s boring. She shouldn’t be here,’ I’ve always maintained that Robyn was valuable to our cast. You can’t have seven Candiaces. You can’t have seven Karen Hugers. You need diversity and Robyn was that person that could be the go-between all of us,” Candiace pointed out. “She was often the most level-headed, often the one that could break the ice and bring people together and that’s valuable on a cast of seven, eight, dynamic, super opinionated women.”
As for her chat with their boss Andy Cohen, 55, Candiace said she mentioned Robyn coming clean behind a paywall because she was curious.
“I was simply going to him to say, ‘What do you think about this? Here are my thoughts about it,’” she stated.
Live Viewing Thread – A new episode of the RHOP season 8 will air tonight on Bravo. Feel free to chat and comment below as the episode airs at 8/7c on Bravo.
