Credit: Nicole Weingart/Bravo
Shannon Beador reacted to the olive branch floral arrangement Alexis Bellino sent her after the gesture was featured on last week’s episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County.
While Alexis, 47, explained her motivation behind the gift and weighed in on Shannon’s text about the cast’s London trip, and Heather Dubrow, 55, raised questions about just how genuine the offering was, Shannon, 60, admitted that she was not impressed as she slammed Alexis’ “manipulation.”
“Alexis sent me flowers with an olive branch in it. Thank you but I’m not interested in an olive branch. I’m not. So sorry,” Shannon stated during an interview with Bravo HQ on October 3. “There was so much manipulation behind it. Like, do you think I don’t have anything going on in [my brain]? You know that a trip’s coming up and I don’t like you, so let’s send her some flowers with an olive branch and be super cute.”
According to Alexis, she didn’t send Shannon flowers in hopes of becoming friends. Instead, she simply hoped to eliminate some of the tension between them, which has been fueled by Alexis’ relationship with Shannon’s ex-boyfriend, John Janssen, 61, and John’s lawsuit against her.
“I’m not asking her to be my friend. There’s no way we could be friends. I know that. However, we are in the same circle of women and I just wanted the animosity to kind of [be squashed],” Alexis explained. “That was my point with the olive branch and it’s her birthday so okay, it was the perfect opportunity.”
Although Alexis was expecting Shannon to throw the floral arrangement out, she was happy to learn that she did not — at least until she received Alexis’ text message about not including her in the cast’s trip to London.
“Nothing worked to try to make anything civil out of our group of friends with Shannon,” Alexis admitted.
As for Heather, she acknowledged that the flowers were a “nice gesture” before commenting on the timing of the gift.
“It felt suspect to Shannon because of the lawsuit,” she noted. “There’s so many misfires on both sides. It’s been incredibly hard to be friends with Shannon and Alexis. I understand how they both feel. It resonates with me. I’m not sure either of them are handling it the way they should, but I don’t blame them. It’s a really hard place to be. I really care about both of them.”
As for the text she received from Shannon, Alexis admitted her reaction was not a “good moment.”
“When I got the text from Shannon that I wasn’t included, that did not surprise me. I wouldn’t invite her to go on a trip with me either. I thought the way that she texted it was a little [unnecessary]. She didn’t even need to tell me I wasn’t invited because I would’ve just not gotten the invitation to go so I didn’t really need a text,” she shared. “But on my side of it, I didn’t handle it so well. It’s one of those moments where I acted 16 instead of 47.”
“Ever since I came around this group of women again, Shannon has been trying to get me out of the group so I had another knee-jerk reaction,” Alexis added.
Newbie Katie Ginella, 40, addressed Shannon’s blunt message as well, pointing out that her castmate could have had better manners.
“I grew up on Emily Post. I’m from Georgia. So you’d be like, ‘Hi, I’m so sorry, but there isn’t enough room for you.’ We were like, ‘Maybe you should soften it,’” she recalled.
“The form is just wrong on both sides,” Heather agreed. “I think when you’re that emotional about something, it’s hard to be smart in your actions.”
The Real Housewives of Orange County season 18 airs Thursdays at 9/8c on Bravo.
