Sara Al Madani wants to hand out awards to her The Real Housewives of Dubai cast after season 2. Well, one award to one castmate, that is.
“That’s an Oscar performance, Lesa should be in Hollywood, acting,” the entrepreneur quips to ET.
She’s speaking of Lesa Milan, who finds herself at the center of the end-of-season drama, after a voice note Sara sent to Lesa in private, discussing the fallout between two other friends in the circle — Caroline Brooks and Taleen Marie — became public within the group, thanks to Lesa sharing it with her bestie, Chanel Ayan, who played it for Lesa’s frenemy, Caroline Stanbury, and Taleen. The would-be double-sided betrayal surfaced on the cast trip to Bali, where Lesa broke into frustrated tears, proclaiming she felt blindsided by Ayan. Sara says that was all for show, literally.
“When we wrapped up, we found out that Lesa knew Chanel showed the voice note to them,” she reveals. “That’s why Chanel’s reaction was like, ‘Why are you crying?’ Like, ‘Why are you acting like a victim? You knew I showed them the voice note. I told you!’ and it’s, it’s just crazy.”
Sara says she’s “120 percent” sure Lesa faked, or at the very least embellished, her reaction to dramatize the moment: “People who worked on set with us, they all said she knew about the voicemail.”
“They’ll take the lie to the grave and believe the lie, and live it,” Sara says of the “Oscar performance” she witnessed. “Believe it, and cry about something that didn’t happen, and they lied about. So, it’s scary. It’s like, it’s scary. Is it a multiple personality disorder, is it for the camera? Is it… I don’t know what it is, but there’s a lot of things that we need to clear.”
The person who didn’t have a reaction in all this, at least not much of one, was Sara. It might be a surprise to the audience, but not to Sara.
“If you can trigger me and control me, then I’m on your leash,” she notes. “You can drag me for a walk whenever you want to. So, no.”
Lesa shared the voice note with Ayan in an attempt to get Ayan’s read on who exactly Sara was talking about on the recording. Lesa supposedly interpreted a comment Sara made about not being someone’s “biggest fan” to be about Brooks; Sara says it was obvious she was talking about Taleen, a fact to which the group agreed when they all listened to it together. It’s more proof, Sara says, that Lesa is lying, adding an unexpected layer to the friendship breakup between Lesa and Ayan. However, Sara says she saw it coming all along.
“I’ve seen it since season 1,” she explains. “Lesa is doing exactly what she did to Nina.”
Nina is Nina Ali, an OG Housewife — and Sara’s BFF — who exited the show after season 1, which saw the cast split into two factions: Lesa and Ayan, and everyone else.
“History is repeating itself,” she continues. “Chanel is not herself about Lesa, and she’s always controlled. I don’t like it, and I keep telling Chanel, you are an individual. Just be yourself. You have a personality, you know? Don’t let people tell you what to say, how to act and don’t water yourself down so you can be digestible. No. Stick in their throats. Let them choke on you, baby.”
Ayan finds the split — which happened nearly a year ago — bittersweet in a way.
“I don’t enjoy friends breaking, for sure, but I also enjoy if friends break, because it’s better for the mental health, of who they are,” she offers. “I love Chanel now, the headspace she’s in. I love how she feels! I love, how she’s glowing! She can be herself and all that. So I’m happy for her. I don’t know how Lesa’s feeling, because I’m not close to Lesa, but I am glad if it makes them happier, you know?”
Both women have maintained they’re open to reconciliation, but Sara says if that comes (the cast shot the season 2 reunion just after this interview was conducted), their friendship won’t be the same as it once was.
“If you put a broken vase back together, it’s not gonna look the same. It has cracks,” she says. “If it makes them happy, great. Whatever is better, good for them, for their mental health, or how they feel, if it makes them better, I’m for it.”
Coming out of season 2, Sara says she found herself closest to Ayan and, somewhat surprisingly, Stanbury. She and the latter butted heads this season, as Stanbury felt as if Sara’s attempts to mediate a conflict between Stanbury and Brooks bled into meddling territory.
“She really did not like the fact that I was friends with Brooks, and every time, you know, when your friends do mistakes, you stand up for your friends,” Sara muses. “Even though they do mistakes, you call them out when you’re alone. But in front of people you go, OK, calm down. It’s not that deep. Let it go. Don’t fight. She doesn’t. She did not like that. I was trying to calm the fire between her and Brooks. You know, she wanted me to take her side blindly, and I won’t. I will never do this for Brooks. I’ll never do this for her or anybody.”
Another unexpected friendship coming out of season 2 is the one between Stanbury and Ayan, given that Stanbury famously proclaimed hell would have to freeze over in order for that to happen. It was a shock to Sara, too, who claims Stanbury kept her post-season 1 bond with Ayan a secret until cameras went back up on season 2 — so secret, in fact, that she acted as if they were not growing closer when with the other women.
“I don’t know why she was hiding it,” Sara reflects. “I don’t know what the intention was. Maybe it’s selfish. Maybe it’s mean. Maybe it’s malicious. Maybe she doesn’t even know that she’s doing something wrong. I have no idea, because some people don’t even know of their own habits and patterns and behaviors that are bad. So, I don’t know, but in the end, I love her, and I love [her husband, Sergio Carrallo], and I think me and Stanbury can fix things, easily. It might not be the same 100 percent, but it will be 80 percent the same. That’s a good bargain.”
The Real Housewives of Dubai airs Tuesdays on Bravo. Episode stream next day on Peacock. For more from Sara — including her thoughts on Brooks becoming a pot-stirrer, what really happened with her love interest Akin and her one ask for season 3 — watch the full interview in the player above.
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