When Real Housewives of Dallas started, I just didn’t know what to make of Tiffany Hendra’s friendship with LeeAnne Locken. Tiffany seemed like a very nice person who was just bound to LeeAnne due to their decades of history. I felt bad that she had to deal with all the drama that LeeAnne started was a part of all the time.
Then when LeeAnne just got out of control by going off on Stephanie Hollman for no reason and going crazy on Marie Reyes, I just didn’t get how Tiffany could turn a blind eye. Especially when the girls were in Austin and LeeAnne was yelling the entire night- how is it possible that Tiffany did not hear her screaming her lungs off? I get that Tiffany just wants to be a good friend, but where is the line between friendship and enabling?
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I’m still puzzled by the friendship between LeeAnne and Tiffany since like I’ve said, Tiffany really does seem to be a genuinely nice person. I just really don’t get her insistence on defending LeeAnne, but she continues to do so and she writes about LeeAnne in her latest Bravo blog entry.
Tiffany writes, “I was simply explaining to Cary [Deuber] that people who have endured abuse have different coping mechanisms, so at their core they crave and need safety and security. I have never condoned LeeAnne’s behavior.” I feel like making excuses for LeeAnne’s behavior and pretending that she couldn’t hear LeeAnne screaming could be considered “condoning” her behavior, but, hey, maybe that’s just me.
Tiffany explains why she is so sympathetic to LeeAnne and her back story: “Because I also come from a history of abuse, I have always understood that about LeeAnne.” I definitely get why she would feel bad for LeeAnne since she has a similar past, but she of all people should understand that you do not have to channel your negative past into so much of the present. She is really the one who should get that LeeAnne’s actions are just way too over the top and unnecessary.
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Then Tiffany laments about the difficult of being associated with LeeAnne: “I’ve been thrown under the bus, trashed, bashed and flat out ridiculed for loving LeeAnne through her outbursts. That has been the hardest thing for me through this journey. If I had disowned LeeAnne or if I had been inconsistent with my loyalty, I would have been bashed just as bad if not MORE so I’m damed if I do and I’m damned if I don’t.” I really understand what she is saying, but I really don’t think that anyone would have thought she was a bad friend if she stood up to LeeAnne or if she called her out for her poor behavior. If anything the fans and the cast would respect her more, not less.
At least Tiffany shows that she has some sense of self awareness when she says, “I get where Cary’s coming from and again, it saddened me that she saw me as LeeAnne’s ‘lap dog.’ A lap dog doesn’t stand up to someone like I do with LeeAnne plus we’ve had so many heated discussions about all of this that none of you have seen.” If these discussions were “very heated,” I am sure that they would have made the show. But maybe she is referencing talks that occurred outside of filming?
I think that Tiffany is just a nice person who is caught between a rock and a hard place. And I believe she truly does care about LeeAnne when she writes, “I want the very best for LeeAnne and it all starts with extending love and compassion.” I think it is just hard to find a balance between not putting someone down and enabling poor behavior. I just hoped that watching all of this play out on a reality TV show and having so many people share their commentary that it would be easier for Tiffany to strike that balance.
Tonight is the Real Housewives of Dallas reunion at 9/8C, right after a new episode of Shahs of Sunset. Join us here to dish on all things RHOD.
TELL US- DO YOU THINK TIFFANY IS ENABLING LEEANNE OR IS SHE JUST A GOOD FRIEND?
[Photo Credits: Bravo]
