The Big Picture
- Monique Samuels' attempt to portray herself as the perfect housewife on RHOP backfired, as her fake persona felt hollow, and she became a source of drama.
- Her determination to lie about her life to fans was evident from the beginning, with humblebragging about owning multiple houses and bragging about her and her husband's success.
- Monique's downfall on the show was ultimately her fault, as her fabrications and altercations with other cast members led to her departure and hiatus from reality TV.
When Monique Samuels joined The Real Housewives of Potomac, she came in on a mission to portray herself and her family in a specific way. She worked hard at projecting an image, even while it was clear that her marriage was in trouble as time passed. She wanted to be the perfect housewife, gushing about her husband at one end while the fans were witnessing something entirely different.
Monique’s desire to create an image ultimately did not work in her favor. Her attempts to make real connections felt hollow at best, and she quickly became a source of drama for all the wrong reasons. Had she been her true self from the jump and tried to keep things as real as possible, who knows how her Real Housewives of Potomac journey could have gone? What is known is that Monique is in the midst of a divorce, and her reality TV career is on hiatus. From the outside view, it’s clear that Monique’s downfall is entirely her fault.
Monique Samuels Tried to Portray Perfection on ‘RHOP’
Monique’s Determination to Lie About Her Life to Fans Backfired
Monique’s first season was season 2 of RHOP, and when she joined, she portrayed herself and her life as perfect. She was a God-fearing woman who loved her husband and her children. Charisse Jackson introduced Monique to the group in episode 2, and the fakery was pretty immediate. This recap comment from Reality Tea encapsulates Monique’s attempts at perfection perfectly,
“It’s time to get to know Monique a little better. She’s a woman of fine taste, who humblebrags about owning four houses and brings an assistant along with her to work out at barre class.”
The recap doubles down on her attitude, saying,
“As the ladies talk, slowly the layers of Monique are peeled back to reveal….more humblebragging. Monique is running her husband’s foundation and her family is quickly growing out of their twenty-six acre home.”
She bragged about the land she and her husband owned, his career, and her career. She wanted to be the woman who had it all. One can wonder why she came in thinking that way: every Real Housewives fan knows it’s better to be realer than it is to perpetrate something else. The fans can smell that from a mile away.
Monique Sameuls’ Quest For Fame Was Her ‘RHOP’ Downfall
Monique’s Fabrications Led to Altercations For All the Wrong Reasons
The best Monique moments were the moments when her veneer fell down. Her mother-in-law’s presence on the show provided an opportunity for fans to see her sweat, and it was rather refreshing at the time. In the first interaction seen between the two, Monique is continuing her Black-Barbie Stepford Wife mission, and her mother-in-law is having none of it. The recaps are spot on yet again, dragging Monique’s fakery perfectly,
“It’s awkward to watch and obvious that Monique is needling her [mother-in-law] in her own passive-aggressive way. But Mama won’t back down easily, and while Monique may have FOUR houses, Mama wins the day with just four words: ‘set that heifer straight’ is exactly what she did at the table.”
If Monique’s mother-in-law showed the cracks in her foundation, other situations popped up that would eventually destroy it. The fight that ended her time on the series with Candiace Dillard-Bassett was entirely her fault, as she was the first to begin touching Candiace’s hair. Her rivalry with Gizelle Bryant was a thing that didn’t really get interesting until the season 5 reunion. Monique’s best moment in the series came right at the end of her journey, with her petty binder full of receipts regarding Gizelle’s relationship with her ex-husband, baby-daddy. If Monique had been the person she was in that moment from the moment she joined the show, she could have had an iconic run on the series. But she faked it until it was way too late to make it, and that is also her fault.
Monique Samuels Quest For Fame Continued After Her ‘RHOP’ Exit
Monique Samuels’ Puzzling Attempt at a Rap Career & ‘Love and Marriage D.C.’
Monique’s exit from RHOP marked the beginning of a very short-lived and perplexing “rap career.” Monique, under her “rap name” HaZel, released a song called ‘Drag Queens’ in 2020, a song that poked fun at her RHOP controversies. She even filmed a music video for the song, the highlight of which were the actual drag queens she hired as backup dancers. Yes, Brooke Lynn Heights and Iyana Deschanel were the best parts of that music video, and not HaZel herself. The move was an odd one, and given that it was her only song, it’s clear that she was just trying to beat Candiace Dillard at her own music-making game. The move failed miserably as the song quickly came and left public consciousness. As of right now, since 2020, ‘’Drag Queens has only been listened to roughly 490,000 times. In the past three years. For comparison, Candiace’s song ‘Drive Back’ has been played roughly 1.2 million times since it debuted in 2021.
Monique and Chris Samuels joined the cast of Love and Marriage D.C. for its premiere season in 2022. Monique divulged that RHOP saved her marriage in an interview with Entertainment Tonight while doing press for the new series. This admission surprised many, as their marriage did not seem to be in a good place in her final season of RHOP. It was also a hint as to why they joined the LAMDC cast. Unfortunately, this time around, reality TV fame could not save their marriage. Their presence on LAMDC was awkward. Monique was consistently bitter and irritated with Chris, who had clearly checked out of their marriage at that point. The couple shared that they would not return for season 2, and soon after, announced that they were separated and getting a divorce.
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