“Real Housewives of Potomac” stars Gizelle Bryant and Robyn Dixon addressed Candiace Dillard’s “light-skinned privilege” remarks toward their co-star Ashley Darby on July 9 during an interview with The Jasmine Brand. This initial interview came two days before the season 6 premiere of the hit Bravo series, which aired this past weekend.
When Bryant and Dixon were asked to express their feelings about Dillard’s statements — which she shared last month under a fan page’s video compilation of “RHOP” best fights — both women agreed that the actress’ opinions were unjustified. Bryant quickly uttered, “It was stupid.”
The 50-year-old further explained her stance while using herself and Dixon, who are both of lighter tones, as examples. She said, “I’ll tell you why. Who gets the most shade? Who gets the most backlash? Who gets the most hateration? This girl or this girl?”
Dixon then joined the conversation by saying, “And Ashley! Ashley spent three seasons being dragged by the fans and the only reason why she recently fell into better favor of the fans is [because] we got to see a different side of her as a mother. So I think people have short memories. Candiace’s memory is a little short, but Ashley has definitely paid her dues.”
Toward the end of the interview, Bryant shared that Dillard receives a lot more criticism from fans because of her words, not any colorism bias. “If we are just gonna talk about Candiace and Ashley. Ashley does not say half the things that Candiace says that were bad.” The mother of three wrapped it up by saying that Dillard deserves all the flak she has been getting.
Dillard initially stated her “light-skinned” privilege claim on June 6 in response to an Instagram user @1classyladydc who pointed out the several instances in an All True Tea compilation post where Darby made “reckless” statements but faced no backlash. The social media user wrote: “This reel shows how reckless Ashley’s mouth has been and still is. Yet Candiace was the villain and ganged up on by so many fans. It’s crazy how Ashley was, in my opinion, worse, but people want to ignore that. I wonder why????”
Dillard replied, “Because she’s light-skinned. There. It was said. I said it. Now, let’s see how fast it gets around.”
