You’ll never put her in a box, because she’s the whole darn package… and now Monique Samuels is coming back to The Real Housewives of Potomac.
Samuels will appear in the Bravo reality show’s 10th season in a supporting capacity, People reports, marking a comeback to the franchise that made her a household name.
RHOP viewers last saw Samuels in Season 5 in 2020, when she clashed with Candiace Dillard Bassett in an onscreen altercation.
After her exit, Samuels starred in the first season of the OWN reality show Love & Marriage: D.C. alongside then-husband Chris Samuels. And in 2023, Monique and Chris — who share daughter Milani, 9, and sons Christopher, 12, and Chase, 6 — divorced after 11 years of marriage.
“Monique’s in a totally different place now, and fans will see that,” a source told People ahead of Monique’s RHOP return. “She’s excited to show who she is now — not as a wife, not as just a mom, but as a woman starting over and taking on life on her own terms.”
Monique, owner of the essential oil company Mila Eve Essentials, joined RHOP in 2017, becoming a main cast member for the show’s second season. But she left after Season 5 and a physical fight with Dillard that resulted in assault charges for both women. (Those charges were dropped in 2019, per Us Weekly, and Dillard departed RHOP after Season 8.)
“I’m over it,” Monique wrote on Instagram at the time of her RHOP exit. “I appreciate everything that people have done for me, everybody that’s been Team Monique — I love y’all, I thank y’all — but when you cross certain lines, there’s no going back. And for me, my family is that line.”
Monique filed for divorce from Chris in April 2023, and she finalized her split from the former NFL athlete that September. “I just got to the point where I was in a place where I was so miserable,” she explained in an Instagram Live video that summer. “I was thinking, like most people, ‘OK, we’re going to stay together for the kids.’ But that never works because staying together for the kids means that you’re giving them a terrible example of what a relationship should be like.”
RHOP stars Gizelle Bryant, Ashley Darby, Dr. Wendy Osefo, Keiarna Stewart, and Stacey Rusch will all return for Season 10, which is expected to air this year, according to People, but the new episodes won’t include Mia Thornton, who has moved to Atlanta, or Karen Huger, who is serving prison time for DUI.
The Real Housewives of Potomac, Season 10, TBD, Bravo