Sara Al Madani Says Her ‘RHODubai’ Castmates Would “Respect” Her More If She “Instigated” Arguments: “They Do Not Like That I’m Peaceful About Things”

Even in the chaotic environment of The Real Housewives of Dubai , Sara Al Madani somehow manages to remain stress-free, likely due to her background in spiritual healing. However, the reality star told DECIDER that having kind intentions nowadays can often be mistaken for having a “hidden agenda,” noting that she believes her co-stars would “respect” her more if she “instigated” drama among their friend group.

“They do not like that I’m peaceful about things,” Al Madani said when she stopped by our offices.

While the big fights in The Real Housewives of Dubai are mainly reserved for her other castmates, Al Madani has encountered some small hiccups this season with Chanel Ayan and Caroline Stanbury — both of whom she now has kind things to say about. On the other hand, she said she “never trusted” Lesa Milan , who was being “messy” when she shared an out-of-context voice note with Ayan that could’ve hurt Al Madani’s friendship with Caroline Brooks .

“I feel like it’s okay for a friend group to have friends that energetically just don’t match. Me and Lesa don’t match. My body refuses her energy,” Al Madani said, adding that while they can “coexist,” that “doesn’t mean” they are friends.

Al Madani might be in a good place with most of her co-stars, but her relationship with model Akin Fontana is long in the past. The self-proclaimed “spiritual gangster,” who introduced Fontana to her friends and son this season, revealed that she ended things after she caught him cheating.

“When you watch the next episodes, you’re gonna see slowly how it unravels and what kind of person he is,” she teased. “It’s over. Because to me, loyalty is big and when you’re not loyal and you cheat, I don’t take you back.”

In her interview with DECIDER, Al Madani also dished on her 92 tattoos, what she was hoping to address at the Season 2 reunion and where she stands with her fellow castmates now. Check out the full interview below.

DECIDER: I am loving this season! How do you manage to stay so calm, cool and collected in what can be such a chaotic environment?

SARA AL MADANI: If you look at my background of who I am, I’m in the healing space and all that. So I do not allow things like that to get to me. Because in the end, if it gets to me, it’s not going to affect any of the girls. My body, my health, my mental health is going to get affected. So it’s like there’s a barrier and you cannot cross it because if you can, then that means you have control of me, you have the leash, and you can walk me wherever you want. But no, it’s stay calm, then hug trees and that’s it. That’s what I’m gonna do.

You and Ayan had a bit of a rough start to the season. How is your friendship with her now?

I’ve loved Ayan [since] day one. If you see Season 1, I was there for her because she’s genuine. The only problem with Ayan is that she doesn’t have a filter. There’s no filter. She’ll say anything anywhere, anytime, right? So you have to be always worried and ready. But in the end, we moved forward because I know her heart is not bad. It’s not in a bad place. And there’s no grudge. I don’t hold grudges. And I never came for Ayan Season 1. Neither did I this season or anything like that. But yeah, I just realized she’s been through a lot. And sometimes she’s just misunderstood. But she doesn’t mean anything bad or any harm.

We got to meet Akin a couple of episodes ago and I think it’s great that you want to take things slow. Why do you think your castmates had such a hard time wrapping their heads around that?

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It was shocking to me as well when I was sitting in that scene, we were sitting in the desert. They think that if you meet a man, you’re automatically in his bed. And it’s not necessary. That’s not the obligation of a woman to do to keep a man or to get a man. You can keep your clothes on and the only thing you can undress is your mind and have someone to stimulate you mentally before physically.

They got shocked that I do not believe in these things – that that should happen right from the get go. And it was a shock to them because I think, also, culture is different, our backgrounds are different and they think living with a man is okay. For me, I don’t think it’s okay. I don’t want to be living with a man unless I’m married to him. So I understand. But I also don’t understand why they don’t believe [me]. They think I’m just trying to look like I’m this decent person but that’s the way I am. I’m dirty-minded in so many other things, but not that department. But yeah, I don’t know, it’s just culture, I guess.

The last we heard in the show you were still testing him, but in the midseason trailer he rudely hangs up on you. How will we see this play out? And are you still together today?

Right now, I know everybody’s loving the man, loving the looks, loving everything. But I always say, “The exterior don’t match the interior.” And if it was just about looks, everyone looks good on Instagram. There’s so many good looking men on Instagram but that’s so shallow. You need to look beyond that. So when you watch the next episodes, you’re gonna see slowly how it unravels and what kind of person he is. But I wish him nothing but the best. I never had or never will ever have anything with him. It’s over. Because to me, loyalty is big and when you’re not loyal and you cheat, I don’t take you back.

Well, there are plenty of fish in the sea. You’ll find the right one.

So many! To be honest, he is not even my soulmate or the right one or anything. So if there’s any women out there, I warned you all. This is national TV. I warned everybody. I clear my consciousness.

I want to get into this voice note. We learn that you were talking about Taleen Marie, not Brooks, when you said you weren’t her biggest fan because Taleen kind of rubbed you the wrong way when she brought up Brooks not having a husband. Why did that strike a chord with you?

Because it’s like telling someone who doesn’t have a leg, “Why can’t you run? Where’s your legs?” I don’t think that’s a nice thing to say. She doesn’t have a husband, she’s divorced. So I didn’t like that. But I also did not like the fact that Brooks kind of started the fight there. Brooks was my friend, I love her, but I don’t stand with everything she does. But I didn’t like that comment and I was telling Lesa about it. And I don’t trust Lesa enough to tell her what I ate yesterday to tell her that I don’t like my friend. Lesa should have thought about it. Like, you think we’re close, Lesa? We’re not.

When they shared the voice note, I just enjoyed it because I loved the plot twist and I loved how Stanbury was just happy she thought she got us. A for effort, but you failed. It all twisted back – the tornado – and hit everyone back. I enjoyed it. I’m calm. I don’t care.

It was a good scene.

It was hilarious and watching it back is hilarious. Living it was hilarious. And me and Brooks just held hands and we walked out like, “Okay, great, see you later.”

What was worse – Lesa sharing your message with Ayan? Or Ayan sharing the message with Stanbury?

To be honest, in that moment, when it was heated, I thought it was wrong for Ayan to do it. But when I went home and I started thinking, I sent Lesa 10 voice notes and they were very clear. I was telling her, “I’m worried about Brooks. Brooks, Brooks, Brooks, Brooks, I care about Brooks.” And then I went into, “I don’t like what Taleen did, it’s too much.” I ended with Taleen, that I’m not her fan. And I told Lesa, “I know you’re not Brooks’s fan, but I’m not her fan. Taleen.” It was so clear. Lesa was being messy. She knew Ayan was going to show them the voice note and she sent it to her right before she met them. So if you think about it, Lesa, if you were confused, call me baby. Ask me. I will fill you in. Text me. Why are you doing this? So Lesa knows what she’s doing. She’s an orchestrator. No coincidences from Lesa.

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Of everyone, you had a really good reason to be mad, but you weren’t. Were you surprised to see how angry Ayan was with Lesa? Did you think she was overreacting?

No. Basically, we just found out recently and Chanel said it publicly – look at Chanel’s face before the voice note and then after the voice note. The way she was looking at Lesa, she looks confused at Lesa’s reaction, right? And in your head, you’re like, “Chanel, that’s weird. You should be ashamed. Why are you looking at Lesa in that way and making Lesa feel like she’s wrong?” Then we found out that Chanel told Lesa that [she] showed Stanbury the voice note and Lesa knew about it.

Chanel was shocked that in that moment, Lesa was doing an Oscar performance, and she pretended like she was crying and she was hurt and betrayed. But Chanel told her twice that she showed it to them – once when she did the same day ages ago, and before going to dinner. She was like, “By the way, they’re gonna bring it up. Let’s just deal with it.” And then she was shocked from the reaction. She never expected Lesa to go on victim mode and throw her friend under the bus.

Where do you stand with Lesa? Do you still trust her after she shared the message with Ayan?

I never trusted Lesa! Me and Lesa never had a connection. We never did. Because Lesa is the type that doesn’t open up easily. And if you’ve seen Season 1, I’ve never mentioned Lesa once in my confessionals because I don’t know [her] to speak anything about [her] and I don’t enjoy bringing women down just to create some entertainment for TV. So for me, she came at me [at the Season 1 reunion]. I never spoke about her or her life or her business or anything. She came [at me] in her confessionals, in her interviews. And I was like, “Girl, I don’t even know you.” So I feel like it’s okay for a friend group to have friends that energetically just don’t match. Me and Lesa don’t match. My body refuses her energy. I cannot be around her. And it’s okay. We can coexist. We can have fun together. But it doesn’t mean you’re my friend. We can just chill. It’s fine. As long as we have other castmates around.

Stanbury seems to think that you speak for Brooks, which clearly frustrates her. What’s your take on that?

That’s just crap because if you watch Season 1 when she was in trouble and she couldn’t put her words together, I as a friend, what you do is you step up and you say, “Hey, is this what you mean? Because right now you look bad.” And in that scene in the desert, I wasn’t taking Brooks’ side. I was telling Brooks [to] apologize to Taleen. And they’re like, “You’re being her mouthpiece.” I’m like, I’m telling her to apologize to her friend.

I think they would like me more and they would respect me more if I insinuated and instigated and I was like, “Yeah, don’t talk to each other. Yeah, screw this.” They just don’t like the fact that I do not like to see people go through this. Even if I don’t like the person and I’m not okay with them. They do not like that I’m peaceful about things. And I think kindness became so rare in the world that people don’t trust it anymore. They think you have a hidden agenda. But if I’m rude and if I’m out there and I’m trying to get everybody, then I’m real, they appreciate that. Because people are used to that. So it doesn’t bother me.

They’re bothered by how unbothered you are.

Exactly. And how caring I was for their friendship. Because Stanbury, at that time, definitely enjoyed the breakout. She celebrates that.

You planned this really cool healing excursion in Bali. How did you feel about Stanbury sitting out? Do you agree with Lesa that she’s miserable all the time?

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I feel like Caroline excludes herself from a lot of things and then she says we don’t want her. The experience in Bali was beautiful. I mean, you saw all of them were making fun of it at the beginning. Everyone’s like, “Oh, Sara, Sara, the healer, the shaman.” Whatever. You can say whatever you want. I am successful in what I do, and it’s facts. But Stanbury, I watched her and Watch What Happens Live and she was like, “Sara should stop trying to heal the world and she should heal herself.” My job is full time. I heal people. I travel all over the world to heal people. Stanbury travels all over the world to do TikTok reels. We’re different! Different consciousness, different levels of life and different things.

So yeah, they just don’t like it. They don’t like the calmness, they don’t like the caring, they don’t like all of that. And they think I’m just pretending to be someone I’m not. Because when you are something, you think everyone’s like you. And they think, “Oh, she’s masking.” And I’m not. But in the end, I love Stanbury. I have so much fun with Stanbury. I love Sergio. He’s like my brother. And me and her had a rough patch but we definitely crossed over. We fixed it and I just love spending time with her. She’s hilarious. As dry as she is, she’s hilarious.

Stanbury told us that she’s hoping to reconcile her friendship with you at the reunion. Are you prepared to hash things out with her?

Totally. Look, Stanbury is the type of person that doesn’t go so deep below the belt. She’s petty in a funny, dry way. She calls it “dry humor.” I call it being an ass. But anyways, I think we can hash it out. Me and her had a strong friendship before and we can go back to that easily. You know, it will take time because I have to learn how to trust her again. But I feel like yeah, we can get there. But we need to have that conversation.

What are you hoping to address at the reunion?

There are so many things we need to address and if I tell you, then I ruin it for the episodes coming forward. The thing is by the end of the last episode, you yourself would need a lot of things to be addressed. You’d be so confused, as well, about so many things. And I feel like reunion is gonna just be like shedding the light on so much truth, shedding the light on so much bullshit and lies and then showing people for their true colors because you cannot pretend for long. The camera catches everything.

You recently posted a picture at a tattoo parlor on IG. Did you get any new ink on your trip to NYC?

Yes! So I got matching tattoos with my childhood best friend. Her name is Sara. This is the evil eye. So we got the evil eye, matching place, matching everything. Because I’ve known her for 26 years. I’m like, “Girl, we don’t have matching tattoos.” And this Sara needs any excuse to get inked. Like, you tell me, “Oh, this happened to me.” I’ll ink it on my body for you.

Every person gets tattooed for different reasons. Me, I have right now around 92 tattoos all over my body. But the thing is, every tattoo is either a lesson or blessing. Either something God blessed me with or a lesson I should never forget. So it’s my story. Why not? You know, life is short. Let’s have fun. This is my vehicle in 3D experiencing a human experience.

You said that “everything in life is either a blessing or a lesson.” Did you have more blessings or lessons this season on Dubai?

Both. Akin was a lesson. But what a blessing! Because of him, I pushed myself into healing more and I came out stronger. To me, life doesn’t happen to you, it happens for you. Even the bad things, I do not let it affect me. I embrace it. I’ll give you a very simple thing that’s happening right now but I’m very chill. My reunion dress got torn. And I’m very relaxed! I’m very chill and we’re gonna go find a dress and everyone was like, “You should be dying, rolling in your bed.” I was like, why? Why do I do this to myself? Just calm down. And I believe that everything in life happens for a reason. I might not know it now, but I will definitely know in a month, in a year and you go like, “Oh, now I get it.” And if you want to be resilient and strong, God’s not going to sprinkle you with that. You have to go through hardship so you can become stronger.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The Real Housewives of Dubai airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on Bravo. New episodes are available to stream the next day on Peacock .

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