Tami Roman announced last year she was officially leaving the hit reality show “Basketball Wives.” Fans speculated the star outgrew the series and was working toward growing her acting career. However, her relationship with show-runner Shaunie O’Neal allegedly played a large part in the star’s departure.
Roman sat down with R&B singer Keyshia Cole on her new talk show “Fox Soul” and explained to Cole the status of her relationship with O’Neal now that she is no longer a part of the “Basketball Wives” franchise.
The reality star said, “I thought in my mind that we were close. I thought we had a camaraderie and a sisterhood and a mutual respect for each other.” She continued to say, “I found out over the past three seasons that the lack of friendship was shown rather than the sisterhood as it pertained to me, which was unfortunate because I care for Shaunie.”
Roman revealed to Cole that she liked the cast when she originally decided to return back to the show in 2015. That cast included Meghan James, Brandi Maxiell, Malaysia Pargo, and Jackie Christie. However, Roman said the dynamic changed when O’Neal allowed Evelyn Lozada to return to the show in 2016.
“The whole dynamic changed. And for me it was just not a happy place to be once she returned. And this is no secret. She doesn’t like me, she has never liked me, I tried to be friends, and so now I’ve accepted that she doesn’t like me, so now I don’t like you.”
Roman and Lozada have a long history of being frenemies. Just two years ago, Jennifer Williams told O’Neal she and Roman had a conversation about Lozada sleeping with Shaunie O’Neal’s ex-husband, former NBA legend, Shaquille O’Neal.
While Lozada denies the accusations of sleeping with her friend’s ex-husband, Shaunie O’Neil said those rumors put a strain on her relationship with Roman.
Roman revealed to Cole she could never be friends with Lozada. She said, “I tried numerous times. I really truly did, and to find out that there were a lot of workings going on behind the scenes and emails being sent and negative, derogatory things being said about my health and my miscarriages all the way up to the network executives, I felt like at that point, that was crossing a line for me. So there was no way we could have ever worked together, for me.”
