Caroline Brooks might be busy running The Glass House, but she still had time to find herself in the middle of the drama in The Real Housewives of Dubai Season 2. As we learned in the premiere episode, Caroline Stanbury made an off-color joke about newbie Taleen Marie‘s drunken night out, claiming the rookie reality star fell over and exposed her vagina to the group. Despite Stanbury insisting it was merely a joke, Brooks has been staunch in her support of Marie, who is one of her longtime friends.
“I felt like I had to be more on Taleen’s side because Taleen was new to our friend group,” Brooks told DECIDER via Zoom. “She didn’t know anyone and I felt like Stanbury was really picking on her.”
While tensions between Stanbury and Marie seemed to subside, Brooks was still bothered by the debacle when she confronted Stanbury at the end of tonight’s episode.
“I kind of held onto my anger toward it because I thought it was really hypocritical for Caroline to treat [Marie] that way considering, like I said, we’ve all had our nights out and I’ve seen Caroline in the same position,” she explained. “So it’s like, hello, how dare you? It’s the pot calling the kettle black here.”
Brooks thought her friend was “absolutely” too forgiving of Stanbury, noting that while it felt “two-faced” of Marie, she also “understood” why she would want to move past the drama.
“She wanted to be able to create friendships in the group and I feel like she felt intimidated in a sense that like we were all such a united group and she was the newbie coming in,” Brooks speculated. “She didn’t want to ruffle any feathers, maybe, but she definitely ruffled mine.”
The salon owner also confirmed that there were “a lot of other components” playing into her negative feelings for Stanbury at the start of the season, including the British reality star’s “shocking” new friendship with Chanel Ayan. “As you guys saw last season, I really went to bat for her in defending her against Lesa [Milan] and Ayan,” she said, adding that her “friendship with Ayan was fractured because of Caroline Stanbury.”
DECIDER recently caught up with Brooks to talk about where she currently stands with Stanbury, the stress of opening a new business and what she can tease about the “juicy” and “long overdue” second season of The Real Housewives of Dubai.
DECIDER: I am so excited about Season 2. How are you feeling about going into your second season?
CAROLINE BROOKS: I’m really excited. I feel like it’s long overdue. We’re so excited for everyone to welcome back Dubai. So much has happened since you guys have last seen us so I’m really excited to see what the fans think about this season. It’s juicy.
I love to see that business is booming at The Glass House. How’s it been going for you? And how do you manage the stress of owning a business?
Oh my God, opening a brick and mortar and having this brand new business has been incredibly stressful, but I kind of thrive in chaos, so I manage it pretty well. Juggling home life and work life, it’s stressful but it’s rewarding at the same time.
I feel like you and your ex-husband have such good banter, which is refreshing to see. Did you ever expect that you’d someday be working with him? And what’s that like?
I couldn’t say I expected it. I mean, we worked together when we were married but I never thought it would be in my cards to have him actually be a – basically, I hired him to do The Glass House so I never thought he would work for me. I used to work for him. So yeah, having him come on and do the project for me was really amazing. And yes, we have some interesting banter. I love that people think it’s funny. He stresses me but hey, we’re here.
You said that you didn’t invite Ayan and Lesa to the grand opening of your salon because you wanted the people who are most important to you there. What can you tell us about where your friendship with them stands now?
Back then that’s true. We were not in the best place when we did the grand opening of The Glass House. But today, my friendship with them is developing and getting stronger and stronger. I love both of them. I love Lesa and Ayan and naturally Ayan drives me absolutely crazy. Lesa not so much. She’s just more shady, she doesn’t drive me crazy. But yeah, my friendship with Lesa and Ayan is growing so I’m happy at the place we’re at currently and I hope we can kind of grow from here and stay here – in a good healthy friendship.
You also introduce the group to Taleen, who I think is a great addition so far. What do you think makes her perfect Real Housewife material?
I think Taleen’s [a] larger than life personality. She’s super outgoing. She’s super sassy. I think, to me, she’s an ideal Housewife. I always thought that from the day that we met. Long before Real Housewives of Dubai was thought of, I would always say to her and our friendship, “If they ever brought that franchise here, you’d be the perfect Housewife.” So we kind of manifested this for her and when the opportunity arose I was happy to introduce her to my group of friends and bring her in.
You really went to bat for Taleen when Stanbury made the joke about her falling over and exposing herself. Since you also described your friendship with Stanbury as “amazing” at the time, why did you feel like you had to be more on Taleen’s side in that instance?
I felt like I had to be more on Taleen’s side because Taleen was new to our friend group. She didn’t know anyone and I felt like Stanbury was really picking on her. A lot more happened than you guys were able to see. At the time, when it was fresh and it first happened, Taleen was really hurt by it and I just felt like I had to defend her. I’ve known her for a lot of years and I didn’t think it was really fair for Caroline to just be super judgmental, considering we all have nights out and they’re not always the most glamorous. So that was very rich coming from Caroline to say something like that. I was like, “No, no. Park it. We’re not doing that.”
Do you think Taleen was too easily forgiving of Stanbury?
Absolutely. I feel like it took time for her to forgive Stanbury. I think that a lot more happened before we filmed and I feel like she was more upset when it was fresh. I kind of held onto my anger toward it because I thought it was really hypocritical for Caroline to treat her that way considering, like I said, we’ve all had our nights out and I’ve seen Caroline in the same position. So it’s like, hello, how dare you? It’s the pot calling the kettle black here, like, what are we doing? So yeah, it did upset me.
I did think that she was forgiving quite soon, but I understand a little bit why. I felt it was a little two-faced of Taleen to jump on the Stan-wagon, but I kind of understood because she wanted to be able to create friendships in the group and I feel like she felt intimidated in a sense that like we were all such a united group and she was the newbie coming in. She didn’t want to ruffle any feathers, maybe, but she definitely ruffled mine.
A few of your castmates have speculated that maybe there’s something going on with you that’s a little deeper than the joke Stanbury made. What’s your response to that?
Yeah, I think there were a lot of other components which you guys will be able to see more as the season progresses. That was definitely the biggest one for me. But I feel like yeah, there were other little issues. I thought she and I were a lot closer and I didn’t like some of the things she was doing with the girls behind like – as you guys saw last season, I really went to bat for her in defending her against Lesa and Ayan. And as we rolled around to filming Season 2, she all of a sudden had this super close bond with Ayan and it was just shocking to us because I never had an issue with Ayan or Lesa that’s personal. My personal issues stemmed from me being defensive. I’m a very loyal friend. I defended Caroline and again, she kind of pulled a Taleen and I didn’t like that because my loyalty was to who I was the closest to. Then she turned around and did that and it just made me and Sara feel really uncomfortable because our friendship with Ayan was fractured because of Caroline Stanbury.
Is there anything else you can tell us about how your friendship with Stanbury will play out this season?
Our friendship is interesting. Right now, we’re okay. We go up and down. Me and her are very similar. Caroline and I are very similar in the sense that we are very direct. We’re not very emotional, huggy-wuggie. Like, we kind of just get on with it. Once we address something, let’s just go, we’re done, let’s move forward. We have a mutual respect for each other in that sense. So yeah, I think it’ll be interesting to watch how the friendship gets fixed.
You said Sara Al Madani was one of your closest friends in the group and she definitely seems like a grounding force when it comes to the drama. What is it about your friendship with her that you cherish most?
What I cherish most about Sara is that she’s super authentic. She has the biggest heart and I feel like she always just wants what’s the best for me. Being that selfless is really special to me, because I’ve struggled with being – as loyal as I am to my friendships, I never feel like it’s reciprocated. I’ve just been traumatized by friends in the sense that I feel like I give everything and then in return, I kind of get stabbed in the back a lot. With Sara, that’s never happened, so I really cherish her and I love my friendship with her.
I do want to talk about the Beyoncé event. You said that you were so close to her that you could smell her conditioner when the wind blew. What does her conditioner smell like? And what is your favorite memory from that night?
It’s Glass House conditioner, by the way. We’re the ones who did the hair for Beyoncé’s show. We did the hair. For the Ivy Park fashion show, The Glass House is the one that did the nails. We were hired by her team to do a lot.
My favorite memory from the night was just the overall experience and then just feeling super proud of my brand new business and knowing that forever in history, I’ll be a part of something that’s special. For her team to even give us the chance to be a part of that, it really catapulted my business and gave us a lot of credibility [and] made us feel incredibly special. We were so happy. And yeah, I’m super, super, super excited about all of the opportunities that came out of us being a part of the Beyoncé experience.
I spoke with Ayan last week and she was telling me that she’s close with other Housewives like Teresa Giudice and Kenya Moore. Are there any Housewives from other franchises you’ve grown close to since you started on Real Housewives of Dubai?
Yes, Phaedra [Parks]. I’ve always been close to Phaedra. I’m just so proud of her and to me, Phaedra is the closest Housewife from another franchise. Well, now she’s on Married to Medicine but she’s an OG housewife from [Real Housewives of Atlanta] and she, to me, is just so iconic and she’s such a great friend. I’ve really loved all of the Housewives I’ve met over the past couple of years that we’ve been on. But Phaedra Parks is the closest person to me.
Is there anything else you can tease about the rest of the season?
I’m excited to see Bali – the cast trip. That’s something that’s going to be crazy. Bali was insane. I think I’m super excited to see everything that’s happened in Bali, us together as a cast, of stuff that the girls filmed alone, because I want to piece some things together that I’m not sure about. You know, I hear different versions of different fights and I really want to watch it and see what really went down because everybody has their own version and then there’s the truth. So let’s watch and see.
I’m so excited to see the rest. I’ve seen the first few episodes and I’m already loving it.
I’m super excited. I think that this season, everybody really gets to know us a lot better. I also think that this season is really special because we are obviously more of the united cast overall. We’ve grown to be such good friends – all of us. So with friendships, there’s ups and downs and there’s a lot of that this season so it’s gonna be exciting to watch.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The Real Housewives of Dubai airs every Tuesday at 9/8 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo. New episodes air the next day on Peacock.
