Over the weekend, reports were swarming that former Real Housewives of Potomac cast members Chris and Monique Samuels called it quits after reaching their ten-year marriage milestone.
Monique, 39, came out to set the record straight and debunk the rumors. She started by flashing her wedding ring.
“No better source than the actual source,” the mom and entrepreneur said. “Y’all already know how I roll. I give my own damn exclusives.”
She then proceeded to ask fans to tune into her and Chris’ YouTube channel later that evening.
The divorce rumors emerged just a few months after the reality TV star and former NFL player’s marital issues played out on Love & Marriage: DC., which aired on the Oprah Winfrey Network in May this year. Monique seemed to be at odds with her husband the entire season due to issues such as her feeling misunderstood and Chris not putting in the work to improve their marriage. The reality show has been renewed for a second season and Monique is apparently set to partake. Love & Marriage DC is the second reality TV show the couple has been in; they left RHOP in 2020 after four seasons.
Despite people often blaming reality TV for the demise of relationships, back in July Monique told Entertainment Tonight that wasn’t the case for her. She shared how reality TV helped her marriage while filming RHOP.
“People always say that reality TV tears your marriage down. What people don’t realize is that Real Housewives of Potomac actually in some ways saved my marriage,” she said. “Chris and I, before we started filming that show, we were in a really rough place.”
“We had lost all of the dating in our marriage. Once we started filming reality TV, it actually helped us because it forced us to date,” she added. “So we were able to get out, just reignite that intimacy and be excited about each other. So I will not lie, season 2 of RHOP saved my marriage. And at the end of the day, sometimes you still have to come back to those moments. Because some of the things that I expressed on Love & Marriage: DC, people who watched Potomac saw I had those same concerns back then. So it’s not like this is something new.”
Monique met the former Washington Redskins left tackle at the age of 19, but their relationship started out as a friendship. It then transitioned into a romantic relationship after some time and they got hitched in 2012. The Samuels share three children together–Christopher, 9, and Chase, 3, and daughter Milani, 7.