Source: Submitted by Nneka Ihim / Nneka Ihim
Nneka Ihim arrived in Potomac as the pot boiled over.
Candiace Dillard Bassett was facing the green-eyed bandits again. Mia Thornton was managing more marital woes. Karen Huger was tossing one-liners from her triple-twenty-length fence. Ashley Darby and her never-ending divorce wanted answers about Wendy Osefo. People wanted to know where Juan Dixon was and how Robyn Dixon felt about it.
Seven seasons of shade overshadowed her The Real Housewives of Potomac introduction. Fractured storylines left little room for the lawyer and entrepreneur to flourish. “I wanted to bring a new dynamic,” she told HelloBeautiful. That wish went unfulfilled.
What’s Beef The Remix
Ihim took the brunt of fans’ frustrations over the franchise’s dwindling potency, though many of their complaints stemmed from things not involving her.
“There’s a lot of old issues that we’re trying to hammer away at, and somewhere down the line, my story and everything that I brought to the table wasn’t shown.”
The feuds couldn’t be mended easily. The subject wasn’t poorly plucked lace or costumey cocktail dresses—it was death threats, colorism, and drink-throwing.
Ihim paid a few visits to a fertility doctor, but it was barely shown despite another housewife being there. “You only saw that snippet of it,” she said about her journey. “This is something that heavily impacts women.”
“We only saw a little piece, whereas I was dealing with that all season,” she continued. “I was on hormones. I was doing all my doctor’s appointments, and there were some really fun and interesting scenes that you guys could have seen. For instance, Mia and I went to a doctor’s appointment,” she said. “We get along really well. We’re good friends, and she and I just had a good time in the doctor’s office, but it was informative, too.”
Kyle Richards saw a doctor with Lisa Vanderpump on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and fans loved it. Lisa Marie Hochstein spent significant time on her fertile journey on The Real Housewives of Miami.
A season bloated by grudges meant less room for her character development. Andy Cohen acknowledged cast conflicts were still brewing at the reunion’s conclusion, but Ihim received little time there.
Nice To Meet You Nneka Ihim (Sort Of)
Newcomers come into the later seasons of the Housewives franchises with a game plan. That wasn’t the case for Ihim.
Her lack of strategy yielded authentic but hollow results. “I think it’s really unfortunate because I filmed a lot,” she said.
“I’m a very genuine person, which I think can work at a disadvantage for me,” she said. “I really did open my home, opened my life, opened everything, and to see what ended up being used and how things were shaped was… it was a little disappointing.” Her perspective was rarely centered outside of her reaction to the Wendy controversy.
It is difficult to win favor with the Housewives fan base, but it’s more difficult when there’s limited room for context due to screaming matches about old issues. Ihim wasn’t given the benefit of the doubt because viewers didn’t know her. She was not the only newbie to receive a lopsided introduction.
Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum Annemarie Wiley expressed surprise that much of her storyline was distilled to a questionable esophagus and an off-camera remark on Carlos King’s podcast.
Source: Mindy Small / Getty
Hijacking The Broken Fourth Wall
Ihim landed in the middle of serious controversy when Darby questioned her about a rumor about Osefo’s family on camera. Darby asked the question. Viewers blamed Ihim though. Fans credited her for the topic, a deep taboo in Nigerian culture, being introduced on camera.
During the reunion, there was less than a minute and fifteen seconds in her segment before the conversation pivoted back to the taboo. No one asked Nneka if she had accepted it on camera when an apology was extended to Nneka. No one asked about her legal profession. Her husband confirmed that the subject Darby raised was taboo little was asked of him beyond that.
It was an unpopular topic that wouldn’t disappear. She address the issue by showing up with receipts and sitting down for one-on-ones. But in each conversation, she unknowingly stripped time away from the rest of her story. It didn’t occur to Ihim that clarifying one truth might sacrifice another.
“I understand that it’s sensitive. I also understand that it doesn’t shed a positive light on the country, but that’s where it was just a really tricky space because these things actually really happened, and I agreed to be in a reality TV show, which means I have to showcase everything that’s happening and that was happening.”
Making A New Reality
Ihim focused on family when the cameras were rolling and she will do the same as they (allegedly) fade to black.
“I’m starting my second cycle of IVF. It’s incredibly taxing. And I don’t think anyone really understands what it feels like you know people see you. You look normal. You present like your regular self, but they don’t know that inside, you’re really suffering,” she said. “I’m just in a space of trying to maintain peace, maintain positivity, and expand my family.”
She hasn’t ruled out a return to the spotlight.
“I think that reality television can definitely be positive.”
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Nneka Ihim Is Embracing A New Chapter After A ‘Disappointing’ ‘RHOP’ Experience was originally published on hellobeautiful.com
