Stacey Rusch is maintaining her innocence. On Sunday night’s (March 2) episode of Watch What Happens Live, the Real Housewives of Potomac star doubled down on her claim that she did not pay her ex-boyfriend TJ Jones to appear on the reality show with her.
In case you missed it, Jones accused Rusch of offering him compensation to appear on The Real Housewives of Potomac — and failing to pay up — in the third part of the Season 9 reunion, which aired Sunday night. His allegation was captured by cameras when he was on a FaceTime call with Wendy Osefo’s husband Eddie Osefo and Keiarna Stewart’s boyfriend Gregory Diggs.
Rusch — who was shocked by the footage — stood by her claim that she “did not pay” Jones when she stopped by the Bravo Clubhouse to chat with Andy Cohen and Married to Medicine star Dr. Simone Whitmore.
“I was in a real relationship with him,” she said. “And he treated me very poorly and to see that — to see him be so disrespectful and to see him be definitely un-Christian and do this to me at the reunion, it was just jarring, quite frankly.”
“It’s so obvious to me — and I hate saying this — but the ladies were right. He’s not the man for me,” she continued. “I was looking for love and he was in love with being in front of the camera.”
According to Rusch, her ex-boyfriend likely made the comment because he was “very upset” with the way he was portrayed on the show.
“Those were his worst moments. And those moments were hard to view,” she said. “Can you imagine how I felt being on the receiving end? My mother was calling me, my family was calling me to ask if I was OK. So I think that the only way he could rectify the situation was to say it wasn’t real, that he was, in fact, acting.”
Cohen, meanwhile, wondered if Rusch had ever offered to pay Jones for anything.
“I just wonder, did you say to him, ‘Look, come film with me. Bravo’s not gonna pay you to be on. The husbands don’t get paid. The boyfriends don’t get paid…’” he said, before Rusch chimed in, “Do you think I would take that risk, going through a divorce, going public with someone unless I was confident in that relationship? I would never do that.”
But the Real Housewives executive producer continued to grill Rusch, asking if she ever offered to pay for Jones’ flights so he could film with her.
“I would never do that. I take my relationships seriously and my family seriously. And I thought I was in a serious relationship. And I wasn’t. Clearly,” she insisted, adding, “Why would I pay someone to mistreat me? That makes no sense.”
Watch What Happens Live airs Sunday through Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on Bravo. New episodes are available to stream the next day on Peacock.
