It’s night one of the girls’ trip to Anguilla. As the Real Housewives of New York prepare to go to dinner, Sai De Silva comes downstairs wearing a black casual dress with cutouts running down both sides.
“Are you wearing underwear?” Erin Lichy asks her. It’s obvious she’s not, Erin, since you can see the entire length of her body through the cutouts.
“No, should I?” Sai fires back.
“No, definitely not,” says an admiring Jenna Lyons. I agree. Why would she want to block the view? It’s cheeky, yet still pretty modest.
On the way to dinner, Sai describes her idea of the perfect vacation. “My dream vacation is … food, some water time, food, relax a little bit and then a snack,” she says. “And then we just go to dinner.” I think Sai and I were separated at birth. That’s also my dream vacation! She must have an incredible metabolism, though, because she’s skinny for someone who loves food so much.
Are we still talking about wife-swapping?
When Jessel Taank asks Jenna if she can borrow her dress, she jokes, “We’ll do a dress swap. Not wife swap.” Brynn Whitfield cringes, as that was obviously a reference to her joking/flirting (you decide) with Erin’s husband Abe at their vow renewal.
“Can we be done with this convo?” Brynn requests, as Erin looks annoyed.
“Speaking of wife swipe,” Ubah Hassan says, looking at Sai, “would you be mad if she made that comment about David [Sai’s husband]?”
“I don’t give two f*cks,” Sai shrugged. “Don’t ask me that. I’m a terrible person to ask that.”
“They’re defending Brynn,” Ubah interviews. “They say they don’t care. Liars. I’m not even taking Erin’s side. I’m taking a married woman’s side, cause I know how I would feel.” Ubah, honey, if someone made that suggestion to my hubby, I would laugh. We’ve been married a long time, and I’m not insecure.
But Erin’s not there yet. She says, “I so appreciate Ubah right now. Like, she’s just such a loyal friend. She fully has my back, and she’s speaking up when nobody else did.”
Even though she still insists it was just a “bit” and she was never serious, Brynn finally gives Erin the apology she wants. “Okay, that was inappropriate, like, bad timing to make jokes about that. So I’m sorry for that.”
Can we just move on now? Get over yourself, Erin. Brynn is not trying to steal your husband.
Jenna’s turn in the hot seat
Next Erin moves on to Jenna and her preference for flying business class rather than traveling with the group.
“That’s not why I didn’t come with you, and you know it,” Jenna responds. “Do you actually believe I didn’t come with you because I didn’t want to fly in coach?”
“I think that was, like, a big part of it,” Sai says.
“It really wasn’t,” Jenna insists. “I don’t think anything you say while you are post-op from anesthesia should be held against you. I don’t think that’s fair.”
“The only thing I remember from my post-op haze,” she continues, “is there was soup involved. But beyond that, I literally have no idea … I did fly business. But I still get a pass for that, because who cares?”
Even though Erin pretends she’s “coming from a good place where we wanted you to be part of [the group],” Jenna’s not buying it, and neither am I.
“You exclude yourself,” Sai says.
“You give us gifts rather than connecting,” Brynn adds, though she tacks on an addendum, “By the way, I love all the gifts. Keep giving them please, because they’re lovely.”
It’s a little confrontational, but they’re not wrong. Jenna does have difficulty opening herself up to the group, but it doesn’t come from a place of malice.
At last, Jenna admits it just takes more time for her to open up. “I’ve been f*cked so many times,” she shares. “And that has nothing to do with you guys. If that comes off as not wanting to participate … or not wanting to be a friend, like, I apologize. That’s not my intention at all.”
“Realest thing you’ve said,” Erin responds.
Jenna opens up
“I think this concept of opening up … it’s not easy for me,” Jenna continues. As she said before when they were in the Hamptons, her mother had severe Asperger’s Syndrome.
“My mom didn’t have any friends,” she went on. “So I just didn’t grow up with that. I’m not trying to paint a sad story, I’m really not.”
“Jenna, this is not a sob story,” Sai tells her. “This is your story.”
Rather than making assumptions about her, Jenna tells them to just ask in the future. “Nothing is ever as it seems, ever,” she says. “There’s always something underneath. People are just broken. We’re all just f*cking broken.”
“Everyone’s had their sh*t,” she adds. “I know for a fact, that … none of you f*cking had it easy.”
Jessel tells her story … or doesn’t
Next, the ladies realize they don’t know much about Jessel’s background. “What can I tell you guys?” she begins. “My parents are from Africa, and we came to England as immigrants … Obviously, I’m Indian, but my grandfather had to move … to East Africa for work. So my parents were actually born in Kenya.”
Her family was forced out of their homes in East Africa due to political unrest, and Jessel was born in England. “They had it super tough,” Jessel says. “My mom’s two brothers decided that they wanted to become photographers, so they moved to Paris and were sleeping on park benches … basically homeless …” Okay, but how did you grow up, Jessel?
After rambling through a lot of extraneous information, Jessel finally comes around to saying, “I actually didn’t have anything growing up. I’m not used to being catered to. I’m [an] Indian living in a country that’s not really mine.”
“You don’t feel like you’re catered to by your parents at all?” Erin asks her.
“100%, no,” Jessel answers. Cue the footage of her mom cooking, cleaning and caring for Jessel’s twin toddlers. No coddling happening there.
Cheering up Jenna
The next morning, the ladies are enjoying breakfast on the outside deck when Brynn asks Jenna how she slept.
“I’m okay,” Jenna responds. “I got up early and meditated.” She hesitates, then apologizes for getting teary.
“Don’t be sorry,” Sai says.
“You’re going through a breakup,” Erin adds. “Like, that’s hard.”
“If you need me to bake you a cake or throw you a party,” Sai offers, “I’m your girl.”
“Do you want to see my boobs?” Brynn offers.
Not only does Jenna immediately accept that offer, but everyone else wants to see Brynn’s boobs, too.
Sai opens up about her mom
When the conversation shifts to how affectionate all the women are with their children, Jenna asks Sai, “So did no one say [I love you] to you when you were growing up?”
“My mom loved me,” Sai says, “That’s one thing I would never take away from her. My mother was an alcoholic for a long period of time. Growing up and watching her morph into someone that I didn’t even know was very hard for me.”
“I did everything to take care of her,” Sai continues, her voice breaking. “I kept trying and trying … And it didn’t work. She wasn’t my mom.”
Her mom started drinking when Sai was 16. “She would wake up and drink,” Sai voiceovers. “And she would drink all day. And she just became this person who was no longer … the person I grew up with.”
“She was always in trouble,” Sai adds. “It was like having a teenager. If I gave her money, she wouldn’t eat. She would drink it … Anyway, fast-forward, she died.”
“They put her in the hospital, and she was on breathing tubes,” Sai goes on, as the ladies wipe away tears. She then tells a heartbreaking story of doing her mom’s eyebrows in the hospital so she would be beautiful on her deathbed.
Before removing her mother from life support, Sai FaceTimed her family members and asked everyone to share a good memory or a funny story about their mom. She didn’t want them to remember her “in this terrible disease” that she had.
“But at the end of the day,” Sai says, “I just want to remind people that my mother was not a bad person.”
Beach time
After breakfast, the ladies – all but Ubah, who decides to nap – head down to their private beach. The sand is white, the sky is blue and the sea is turquoise. It’s gorgeous.
“Do you think my husband would notice if I just don’t come home?” Jessel asks.
Even though Jenna’s wearing a swimsuit, she refuses to remove her coverup. She’s got serious body issues. “If I looked like Sai or Brynn or any of them, none of this conversation would be happening,” Jenna says. She’s so self-conscious of her skin’s imperfections. It’s really sad.
“Let’s get Jessel drunk,” Erin tells Brynn. “We’ve gotta get her drunk and send Pavit pictures.” But is that cool really? We just heard Sai tell about how alcohol ruined her mother’s life, and now you want to get Jessel “wasted?” Kind of insensitive.
Jenna takes photos as the rest of the women strike sexy poses and eventually jump into the water. She’s still a little stand-offish, but she’s there at least.
“I feel like I’m missing out,” Jenna says. “[But] this is not a new experience for me. It’s been like this since I was a little kid.” I feel like Jenna’s making progress just by being there. It’s a journey.
Brynn wants babies
Once beach time is over, it’s off to lunch. Sai is “so hungry,” as usual.
As soon as they settle at a picnic table on the beach, Sai says, “Brynn, can we talk about your dating life?”
“What do you want to know?” Brynn responds.
“Are you dating?” Said asks. “Can we hook you up with someone?”
“Dating life is good,” Brynn admits. “I was very hardcore in the summer … going on three dates a day. I was husband hunting.”
“How do you date three times in one day?” Jenna wants to know. “How does that even happen?”
“Coffee, drinks and dinner,” Brynn explains. “I want someone who wants a family. I want to be a mom.”
When she admits she’s “not 27 anymore,” the other ladies tell her she needs to freeze her eggs. “Those eggs aren’t going to scramble themselves.”
Ubah confesses that she froze her eggs. But Brynn’s concerned about all the hassle surrounding the freezing process: the injections, the weight gain, the massive expense (with no money-back guarantee).
“You just need a good three weeks, and you can do it,” Ubah says.
But when Brynn looked into freezing her eggs, she was told that embryos are more viable than just eggs. She was intimidated by having to identify who might be fertilizing her eggs. She claimed to have gone through her phone in the doctor’s office to give them names of potential donors.
A poor choice of words
Erin thinks this is bullsh*t and whispers to Ubah, “You go to freeze your eggs, they tell you to get an embryo, call someone on the phone? No. Ubah, that’s a weird lie.”
“I’m a girl’s girl, and I have so many girlfriends,” Erin interviews. “I’ve just never heard of a location asking for you to go through your phone contact list and hit up some guys to give you some jizz for an embryo.”
“You know I love you,” Erin tells Brynn, “but I don’t believe your story … It just sounded like a crazy story.”
“Which is why I shared it,” Brynn says.
“It’s just more money,” Ubah says. “It’s like Bergdorf. You buy something, [they try to sell you something else].” Do you want fries with that?
“Why would I lie about something like that, Erin?” Brynn thinks that’s very messed up.
“We just made up hours ago,” Brynn interviews. “And it’s like, was all that nothing, you know? Because immediately you’re accusing me of lying, and again about something serious to me.”
To Erin’s credit, she does apologize to Brynn when they get back to the car. “I’m sorry I used the word ‘lie,'” she says. “And I feel bad about it.”
Brynn’s head is spinning from having so much fun in the morning, followed by conflict at lunch. “There’s a part of me that wants to just, like, grab my bags and dip,” she confesses.
Brynn needs a moment
Two hours later, Brynn knocks on the door to Sai’s room and explains she’s going to skip dinner with the girls tonight. She says she’s “tired,” but I think she’s just had enough of Erin.
Sai understands and wishes she’d never brought up the subject of Brynn’s dating life at all.
“Thank you for saying that,” Brynn says. “I think after a little me time, and a really nice, good night’s sleep … I’m hoping that I’m gonna wake up and feel differently.”
“This is your only time-out,” Sai teases. “Enjoy your time wisely. Sorry again about today.”
Next, Brynn goes to Erin’s room. “So I just talked to Sai,” she says. “I’m not gonna go to dinner. I just want to chill and rest … and I just wanted to make sure that you didn’t think that I was mad at you. I’m not mad at you.”
When Erin says she “felt so bad,” Brynn assures her it’s okay, as she balances on the side of Erin’s tub. “I’m sensitive,” she admits.
Joining Brynn on the rim of the tub, Erin tells her, “I love you so much. Seeing you like this is beyond heartbreaking … I just really love you, Brynn.”
“I feel bad,” Erin confesses. “Like, clearly she’s upset. This is about her having a baby, and I get it. I’m really happy that she wasn’t putting the blame on me … it was just kind of a miscommunication.”
Oh really, Erin? Miscommunication? Erin seems to have a lot of those. Or maybe she’s just toxic.
Real Housewives of New York continues Sundays at 9/8c on Bravo.
TELL US – DO YOU THINK ERIN CALLING BRYNN’S STORY A “WEIRD LIE” WAS A MISCOMMUNICATION? OR WAS ERIN JUST BEING A BITCH?
