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Interview: Robyn Dixon is Having a Tough Time Believing in Herself and it’s So Relatable

Robyn Dixon wearing embellished dress
NBC

When The Real Housewives of Potomac first stepped into the Housewives universe, fans quickly became enamoured with the mysterious Maryland city and its strange suburban charm. Most of us had never heard of it, but there it was, with its own set of society rules, etiquette and million dollar homes it almost didn’t make sense that the cast was so relatable. And none more so than Robyn Dixon, introduced to us as a free-spirited PR professional, still living with her ex-husband and struggling to get out of a financial hole.

One could go so far as to call her the anti-Housewife trying to get her life together but not quite there, with a love story unfolding out of order, and having to earn every dollar she has. Nonetheless, she fits right in with the “Housewife” prototypes like Karen Huger and Ashley Darby, positioning herself slightly adjacent to the drama, with the unique ability to drop in and step out of it as she pleases.

Related: Where is The Real Housewives of Potomac’s Katie Rost?

Gizelle Bryant and Robyn Dixon

NBC

Robyn will always be loyal to the other Green-Eyed Bandit

The drama always finds her partly because, wherever you find Robyn, you’ll find Gizelle Bryant close by. Known as the “Green-Eyed Bandits” in the Potomac group, the pair are so close that they’re often mistaken as sisters. And with such a resemblance to one another, one can only wonder how these two even crossed paths to begin with.

Seated next to each other at a charity event by season one’s Charisse Jackson-Jordan, Robyn recalls that it was an instant connection. “We just start talking and laughing and joking we don’t know each other’s names, we don’t know anything about each other. But it’s like we just naturally were sitting next to one another and having a great time like we were really great friends,” she remembered. From there, their friendship blossomed the two had been friends for four years before the show even started, laying the foundation for the bond we see on-screen. “Being on a show like that, we’re kind of under so much scrutiny and pressure. We’re able to support one another and have something in common to really talk about.” 

Related: How old are The Real Housewives of Potomac?

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In that way, the two always have each others’ backs. But with Gizelle’s firecracker personality, it’s often Robyn going up against the others in her defense. Even with Gizelle’s tough love approach to getting Robyn’s life back on track, fans of the show were quick to criticize her as a friend. Robyn says it doesn’t bother her. “I guess when you know someone and I’m used to her personality, I’m used to her delivery, I’m used to her mindset I don’t even like stop to I think like, ‘Oh, she’s being harsh or whatever.’”

As for going hard in her defense, Robyn actually feels that the other women are guilty of shooting the messenger when Gizelle speaks the truth. “I also think sometimes she might say or do a lot of things that people are thinking, but they’re afraid to say. But because it comes from [her] they just want to be  all up in arms.”

Related: What is the net worth of the ‘The Real Housewives of Potomac’ cast?

She’s still fighting the pandemic blues (like a lot of us)

In a scene of absolute transparency, we watched Robyn struggle to get out of bed to wake up her son for online school. When she finally did get him up minutes before class, she collapsed right back into bed, hinting that this gargantuan effort to start the day was somewhat of a routine for her. A lot of us saw ourselves in Robyn in that moment, and with moms everywhere bearing the brunt of the pandemic, it didn’t land well when her fiancé, Juan Dixon, berated her for her laziness.

Robyn later revealed to the group that she couldn’t explain what was going on with her, even considering depression. “I’m still not 100 per cent out of the woods,” she confesses. “What I’m going through is two-fold it’s the pandemic and I think I had underlying issues before. So, the pandemic made the underlying issues even worse.” Like so many of us, Robyn was dealing with her own internal battles before the pandemic hit, and she’s giving herself time to work through them with everything else going on. “I spent over a year and a half in this pandemic so it’s not like tomorrow it’s going to be that easy to change bad habits, negative thinking and behaviour. I feel like I’m slowly getting better, but I know I have so much further to go.”

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I feel like I’m slowly getting better, but I know I have so much further to go.

There’s a lot at stake: her hat business is booming, and her tendency to self-sabotage is costing her — something she told Gizelle in confidence in recent episodes. Robyn says that it’s fear that’s behind a lot of her behaviour in business, causing her to ghost retail giants like Macy’s and TJ Maxx that want to stock her products. “It is a lot of my fear — the ‘what if.’ I don’t want to do too much and then fail. I don’t want to be in a bad position because I overextended myself,” she concedes. “I don’t have all the answers. I don’t know everything about business — what’s the right move or the wrong move. It’s a lot of uncertainty.”

Related: Underrated Bravolebrities who we think deserves more hype.

The Real Housewives of Potomac season 5

NBC

She’s disappointed in the changes she’s seeing in Wendy Osefo

Because Robyn is so open about her challenges, it’s only natural that she expects the same openness from her co-stars. So, when she suspected there was something off about Wendy Osefo, she spoke up. “Very early on, I felt a different energy from her. I felt she was being different and it had nothing to do with her physical differences. I couldn’t put my finger on it and I couldn’t articulate it.” She goes on to say that watching the episodes back confirmed it for her. “What I’m seeing on camera is definitely what I was seeing and feeling. And I was seeing someone and feeling someone who was colder towards us, who was more confrontational, who is more performative. It’s unfortunate that the focus got put on the changes to her body.”

As the episodes go on, it’s clear there’s an enduring rift in their friendship with feelings still lingering after their war of words in Virginia. “We considered each other friends and we hung out. For me, it was so disappointing to see this change in her but it was so hard for me to articulate.”

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The Real Housewives of Potomac cast
NBC

The ‘Potomac’ ladies have come out of a dark place with season 6

Despite the explosive fight that came from that, it’s nothing compared to the toxicity of season five, where a nasty physical fight between Monique Samuels and Candiace Dillard resulted in court cases and a massive divide within the group. “Going into this season, most of us were in agreement that we did not want that toxicity, and we wanted to start fresh,” she admits. “We’ll see what the reunion looks like, but I know I was so grateful that it felt so different. Last season it was… it was dark.”

Last season it was… it was dark.

Speaking of the reunion, what does Robyn think of Nicki Minaj wanting to host it? “I would love, love for her to come and at least ask a few questions, give it to us, read us, tell us how horrible we are,” she laughs excitedly. 

Trust us, we’re hoping for that, too

Watch The Real Housewives of Potomac and stream all your favourite Slice shows through STACKTV with Amazon Prime Video Channels, or with the new Global TV app, live and on-demand.



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