The Real Housewives of New York City may be poised for a major comeback. This comes after fans panned much of the season but felt that it improved towards the end. Naturally, Jessel Taank is a fan favorite from this new batch of ladies, and she’s now opening up about how Brynn Whitfield rubbed everyone the wrong way, discussions of her having a “new face,” and she’s giving insight into the reunion.
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Jessel has been front and center on this season of RHONY, with her personal life taking a bit of a hit because of it. As fans will recall, this season even saw Brynn claim that Jessel’s husband, Pavit Randhawa, wasn’t the love of her life as she twisted a conversation.
Recently, Jessel sat down for an interview with Page Six, where she discussed the season as a whole, much of which consisted of various issues with Brynn. One of the juiciest parts came when the interviewers asked about the state of her friendship with her much-talked-about foe.
According to Jessel, “I think it’s definitely broken. There’s going to be a lot of work that has to be done to get her trust back, and I think a lot of the girls feel that way.”
She continued, “I don’t know what she was thinking. She went into the season maybe feeling like she was God and playing God in a way and it just didn’t resonate.”
Regarding Brynn’s interactions with the group, she explained, “She was being a bit of a bi*** to everyone. Here’s the interesting thing- it’s like to your face, everything is cool, but if you notice, all the snarky remarks come in the confessionals. To me, it was very two-faced the way she was navigating, and I don’t like that.”
She went on to discuss how she felt about Brynn picking apart silly aspects of her life in order to be shady. Namely, Jessel mentioned Brynn taking issue with her having a photographer for her kid’s birthday party.”
The topic of the ladies discussing her marriage then comes up. Notably, Jessel took issue with the love of her life discussion that Brynn fostered. She said, “Brynn’s story about the love of my life, that was a complete distortion of a story. So, we were talking about the craziest hookups we’ve ever had.”
She went on, “There was no mention of the love of my life. That wasn’t even in the conversation. I would have said my husband because that’s the guy I married. It was a fun, innocent conversation we were having on vacation last year. So, I told this story, and she distorted my entire story and twisted and manipulated it in a way that was actually very damaging to my marriage.”
The RHONY star added, “And I have to say, watching that back, I had no clue that was even discussed. So, I’m sitting on the couch with Pavit of all people, and my jaw is on the floor because I’m like, ‘Wait, that never happened.'”
She later said that her husband was silent as they watched the rest of the episode and that she felt that she needed to justify her love to Pavit because of Brynn’s lie.
They also discussed Erin Lichy saying she couldn’t imagine Jessel and her husband being intimate. She responded by essentially saying she thinks Erin has an unrealistic view of how people see her relationship with Abraham “Abe” Lichy. She went on to call picturing other people having sex “creepy.”
When asked if she gives Erin a pass due to her father’s lung cancer diagnosis, she explained, “I don’t give anyone a pass in any way for behaving that way. I sympathize with her. She’s gone through a lot and is going through a lot. I can never put myself in her shoes. I have no idea how she’s dealing with it all, and I commend her for being so brave.”
However, there was a “but” to her thoughts on Erin. She continued, “But your character is your character. I would never let something that was happening in my life impact how I treated other people.”
When asked where she stands with Erin today, she said, “I think we’re fine. We haven’t really spoken since the reunion, but I don’t think Erin has any ill intentions. I just think she got scooped into the Brynn hurricane, as most people did.”
The interviewers then asked what it would take to fix things with Brynn. Specifically, they asked if the proverbial ball was in Brynn’s court. She answered, “No, the ball is not. There are no balls. I really wish for her that she is able to watch kind of how she’s been acting on the show and use it to reflect because I don’t think that anyone really loved Brynn.
When talking about the issues Brynn had with Ubah Hassan, Jessel said, “I think both parties could have handled things differently, and I know that Ubah certainly has taken a lot of ownership of things that she’s said, and I know Brynn did too, but it got to a point where it feels irreparable at this point.”
Regarding the reunion, Jessel said she prepared for the worst. According to her, “I really did think it was going to be like Hiroshima.”
She went on, “We were very adult about it [the reunion.] I think everyone was expressing their true feelings. Whether or not a resolution was found, I’ll leave that to you guys to decide. It wasn’t volcanic in the way that people were being irrational. I think that we were all talking things through like adults. That was great.”
The topic of her looks came up toward the end of the interview. She said, “Well, I did get veneers.”
She then explained that she had fallen when she was a child and damaged her tooth and that she “noticed it so much more” watching herself on season 1 of the RHONY reboot.
She continued, “So, I was like, I’m going to tweak a few things. Also, who doesn’t get Botox? Who doesn’t get a little filler here or there? I’ve gotten Botox since I was 26, and it is a game-changer. I’m not a gatekeeper. I’m certainly not the type of person to be doing all these procedures and not talking about it.”
Finally, she responded to a question regarding what she’s learned and how she’ll function differently in season three of the reboot. She said, “I am very cautious of what I say and how I say it, and like I’m always very cognizant of people’s feelings, and I’m in my ‘I don’t give a f*** era. I don’t care who I offend anymore. It’s like I’m so sick of people coming at me and for me for the dumbest sh**. I try to stay PC, and I try to understand where people are coming from, but no more.”
Fans can watch part two of the RHONY reunion on February 4th and steam the unedited version the next day on Peacock.
