The highly anticipated fifth season of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City is premiering tonight — and Lisa Barlow, who stopped by DECIDER’s studio today — is not holding back her thoughts about her co-star Whitney Rose.
The two women have had a rocky friendship over the years, and Rose’s claim on a podcast that Barlow is the “villain” in the group puts them right back in dangerous territory in the Season 5 premiere.
“No one’s strong enough to be the villain and that’s a true statement,” Barlow told DECIDER when asked who she felt was the true villain on the cast this season. “I think you have to be really mentally strong.”
“And I understand why [Rose] would say I’m the villain because I’m mentally strong, I’m direct and I’m thoughtful with how I say things, most of the time,” she added.
Barlow speculated that Rose’s problems with her stemmed from the Season 4 reunion, where the Wild Rose Beauty founder “got called out on her lies.”
“This last reunion she was like, ‘You didn’t check on me.’ And it’s ways to denigrate my character. And to make herself a victim,” Barlow said, noting that she checked in on Rose “multiple times” and even “sent flowers” — which was shown in a flashback scene.
Barlow continued, “I think she just had a hard time with that and she said, ‘Lisa doesn’t like to be wrong.’ Whitney doesn’t like to be called out on her lies. And I wasn’t wrong or I wouldn’t have said it and if I was wrong I’ll say it.”
In the Season 5 premiere, the two women spar at Barlow’s “Besos” dinner party — the first cast event of the season. Tensions reach their boiling point when both Meredith Marks and Heather Gay also start in on Rose, who ultimately gets kicked out after flipping off Barlow.
“I think this dinner is the tone for the whole season,” Barlow said, before later adding, “I think we’ve all given her an insane amount of grace. I feel like she gets so much grace. Everyone’s like, ‘Oh, it’s just Whitney.’ But now she’s doing things that are damaging people. And when your lies are dangerous and damaging, it’s a problem.”
Despite their ongoing feud, Barlow would still not go as far as to call Rose a villain.
“She’s not the villain. You have to be way stronger than her. You can’t be a liar if you’re a villain,” she said. “You have to be someone that can own things, come out with things, be direct about things. And I think that’s not her.”
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City Season 5 premieres on Wednesday, Sept. 18 at 9/8c on Bravo. New episodes are available to stream the next day on Peacock.