Matty Samaei Thinks It Was “Brave” Of Athena X Levendi To Open Up About Her Painful Childhood On RHOS!

Matty Samaei is taking to her Arena Blog to dish on this week's episode of The Real Housewives of Sydney. Matty opens up about her Persian New Year dinner party and reacts to Athena X Levendi and Victoria Rees' revelations about their past.

Matty writes:

"So here we are again, another week into this Real Housewives journey and I am definitely growing a little wiser.  After last week’s blow-up at the art gallery, I can honestly say I was starting to have my doubts about our group. More specifically about whether the seven of us can ever meet up and have a fun night without at least one fight happening!

Our track record so far has been really bad but I’m inherently optimistic and never one to back away from a challenge. Hence my idea to host a Persian Party for the group; being Persian is such an important part of my life and even though I have readily embraced the Australian culture since moving to this country I still try to acknowledge my family’s history when I can. I was so excited to have the opportunity to introduce my culture to the girls.

On the night we celebrated the Persian New Year which is also known as No-Rooz to Persians (and literally translated to mean “New Day”). It marks the start of the year and like New Year’s Day here in Australia, Iranians consider this as a day where they can start afresh, put aside past grievances and move forward. My sister Haleh prepared all the food for this event and it was simply amazing.

We also set up a traditional decorative table called a Haft Seen for the night, with seven items that symbolized various different gifts, including Rebirth, Affluence, Love, Medicine and Health, Beauty, Sunrise and Patience. Given that we are a group of seven women, I thought each element could be represented by one of the girls (take your pick of the gifts ladies!)

Of course I had high hopes that the event would pass without too much fanfare but it would have been better if I followed different life advice: hope for the best but expect the worst! Even though I myself have built some really good friendships with the girls there is definitely a lot of friction between other members of the group. I sometimes forget how deep-rooted this friction is which is why I honestly get surprised when some of these over-the-top arguments take place.

I was unaware that Nicole and Athena had met up during the week and that there were some unresolved issues between them. As soon as we sat down at the table I noticed there was tension and the moment the caviar arrived, the bickering started. It escalated quickly, like a domino effect, which surprise, surprise, commonly happens when we get together.

Following that argument, we finally had the opportunity to learn more about Athena when she opened up to us about her past. I thought it was very brave of her to share such intimate details from her childhood and I felt her pain and was very sad about what she had experienced.  As a mother of two girls I felt so bad for Athena X. Home is meant to be a safe place and parents are supposed to love and protect their children.

I noticed that the moment Athena X opened up about her past the whole aura of the room changed. The conversation went from being argumentative to actually listening to each other with a little less judgement. It helped me better understand Athena’s behavior, her art and where she is coming from. Victoria also had an emotional day as she found out her dad that she was looking for had passed away.

I should point out that as the night progressed I think having this awareness of each other’s past helped bond us together. The more we learn about each other, the better we can understand one other. Hopefully it will help build stronger relationships with each other in the future.  So all in all, it was an eye-opening and very emotional day for us as a group.

Maybe we didn’t have the fun night I envisaged but from my perspective we achieved something ultimately more important – a better understanding of Athena X and a feeling that maybe, just maybe, from hereon we would at least attempt to be nicer to each other.  But who knows what the future will hold?"

What do you think about Matty’s blog?

The Real Housewives of Sydney airs Sunday nights at 8:30pm on Arena in Australia and on Tuesday nights at 8:30pm on Bravo NZ in New Zealand. For International TV Listings, click here!

Photo Credit: Foxtel