Dr. Wendy Osefo never expected any drama to result from her working relationship with Peter Thomas.
But after the “Real Housewives of Potomac” star, 58, began planning a Nigerian lounge with the restaurateur, also 58, he was romantically linked to her castmate and noted frenemy Gizelle Bryant.
“You know what’s so interesting, I had heard whisperings of it. And so I was just like, ‘What is happening?’” Osefo tells Page Six exclusively, detailing her initial reaction to the gossip.
“But let the record reflect it didn’t come from me,” she asserts. “It wasn’t a me thing.”
In the trailer for “RHOP” Season 7, Candiace Dillard tells Bryant, 52, during a group dinner, “So everybody’s asking me if you’re sleeping with Peter Thomas.”
Osefo then asks in the preview, “Are you f–king him?!”
Thomas, who was present for the explosive scene, seemingly departs, telling the women, “I’m gonna exit on that one.”
Bryant, for her part, has denied any involvement with Thomas. “I would never date Peter Thomas, no, never,” she recently told Page Six.
She also expressed allegiance to her good pal and Thomas’ ex-wife, “Real Housewives of Atlanta” alum Cynthia Bailey, adding, “When that all came up, I called her immediately to shut it down.”
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Bryant noted that Bailey, 55, now married to sportscaster Mike Hill, was unbothered by the rumors and even encouraged her to explore a relationship with Thomas — a sentiment echoed by Osefo.
“If they want to date,” the professor and political commentator tells Page Six, “they can have at it!”
Meanwhile, Osefo is thrilled for fans to get a glimpse inside her Maryland business venture with Thomas, who has found success opening eateries and nighttime establishments in Georgia, North Carolina and Florida.
“I am so knee-deep — and when I say that, I really mean it — in my Nigerian culture and heritage,” she says. “I want to do a Nigerian lounge because so many [of my favorite Nigerian] restaurants were closed due to the pandemic.”
“I want to bring it back. So this season you guys are going to watch that and see where it goes. It’s an interesting story,” she explains.
The new author shares more of her Nigerian upbringing in her recently released memoir, “Tears of My Mother.”
“Just to think how telling my story of being a first-generation Nigerian immigrant can resonate with people from across the globe, shows how much we are all really alike, more so than we are different,” Osefo says of the tome that delves into the relationship she shares with her beloved mom, Iyom Susan Okuzu.
“I’ve just really been humbled by so much of the feedback.”
Paul Gilmore/Bravo via Getty Ima
Paul Gilmore/Bravo via Getty Ima
“The Real Housewives of Potomac” Season 7 premieres Sunday, Oct. 9, at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.
