Stephanie is referencing her friendship with Brandi Redmond. The once inseparable pair didn’t speak for more than four months last year, the aftermath of which has played out this season. On last week's episode, the two besties sat down, reconnected and agreed to move forward as friends.
“I feel like I'm walking away with that friendship,” Stephanie shares with a smile. “With Brandi, I felt like there was so much I could lose ... I was kind of terrified … I did not want to leave without that friendship, and I did not want to do something to mess that up.”
During the emotional sit-down, Brandi confessed to Stephanie that she suffered a miscarriage in their time apart. Stephanie still tears up talking about the moment now.
“It hurts that she went through and that I wasn't there for her,” she says. “I'm sad that I missed being there for her, and I'm sad that she went through that by herself. I've had a miscarriage before and it's hard. It is a loss of a baby, 'cause you see the heartbeat, you get so excited, and then to have that taken away, it's a great loss.”
Stephanie says she and Brandi have leaned on each other over the last few weeks as they've watched their falling out play out on TV.
“Brandi is like my sister,” she notes. “I can't have another friendship like hers ... she makes me think that I'm 5 years old, and there's not a care in the world, and that's something that's rare and I don't think you can find with a lot of people.”
Hollman admits she and Redmond weren’t able to jump right back into their old ways, it took time. Complicating things was Brandi’s newfound friendship with co-star LeeAnne Locken, who does not get along with Stephanie.
“LeeAnne and I are so different,” says Stephanie. “I don't know if we'll ever be, probably never be, good friends. She just wants to prove, for some reason, that I'm not a nice person, that I'm reactive,” she says. “She’s wanting to prove something to people that's not true. I can hold myself together. I'm not nasty to her … we don't even talk when we're out. If nothing else, I run away!”
“I've never once been mean to her,” Stephanie continues, adding that she was extra cautious of LeeAnne getting involved with her and Brandi’s issues.
“I did not want her to ruin something that I was trying to get back,” she says. “I don't know their friendship … but I did feel like I had to get past Brandi's bodyguard to say anything, and that bothered me.”
She continued: “I'm not gonna lie, it made me a little nervous,” she recalls. “Brandi's such a wonderful person, and she's funny and kind and she wears her heart on her sleeve, and I was worried that LeeAnne would hurt her … there isn't a trust factor with me and LeeAnne.”
There’s still big drama to come this season with LeeAnne. In the Season 2 trailer for the show, she’s seen smashing a glass and yelling at some of her castmates. So what does Stephanie feel about LeeAnne?
“I'm not surprised anymore,” Stephanie says of LeeAnne’s explosive behavior. “It's super predictable.”
There is one thing LeeAnne could do that would surprise Stephanie, though. “If she was nice to me and actually took ownership of the things that she does,” she admits. “I would be shocked and amazed.”
Photo Credit: Bravo
