Annemarie Wiley was shocked by fellow anesthesia practitioner and “Real Housewives” star Dr. Nicole Martin’s “hurtful” remarks about her assessment of castmate Sutton Stracke’s medical issues.
“I was really very hurt by Dr. Nicole doing that. As a colleague in anesthesia practice, she knows my training, she knows my skillset, she knows my knowledge base,” Wiley, 40, says of her “Miami” counterpart, 38, on Pvnew’s “Virtual Reali-Tea” podcast.
“Why wouldn’t you offer that professional courtesy and reach out to me and kind of ask, ‘Oh, I wasn’t really comfortable with that. Why were you doing that?’”
Wiley believes that Martin’s defense of Stracke, 52 — who suffers from a strictured esophagus — was an attention grab rather than a sincere expression of concern.
“I actually reached out to her after I was told that she made a video and she didn’t respond to it, which shows me that this wasn’t so much about clarifying anything for anyone,” the nurse anesthetist says of Martin, who is an anesthesiologist.
“It was really, unfortunately, about trying to capitalize off of the ‘Beverly Hills’ show and I guess this is what the kids call clout-chasing, right? You’re just trying to capitalize on the moment for likes and whatever it is.”
Last month, Martin called out Wiley for what she thought to be “cringey” comments about Stracke’s health.
“It does not matter where you fall on the spectrum — all the way from being a tech to being a doctor. You joined the profession to be an advocate for patients, and as such, it is not our place to belittle, question or demean a patient’s symptoms or diagnosis,” she said in a video posted on Instagram.
“We are there to facilitate and help the patient through the medical process, and it was just very uncomfortable and cringey to watch Annemarie belittle Sutton’s symptoms in such a way.”
Earlier this season on “RHOBH,” Wiley questioned Stracke’s claim that she had a narrow esophagus, making it more difficult to eat.
“After hearing about Sutton’s small esophagus, as a nurse anesthetist, I’m, like, what she’s saying as stated just doesn’t make sense,” she said in a confessional. “Period.”
The Bravo rookie, who is married to former NFL pro Marcellus Wiley, then told Stracke during a group discussion, “As far as I understand … narrow esophagus, that’s a symptom of something, that’s not a medical diagnosis. If you have a stricture in your esophagus, all you do is chew your food more.”
“If you really have a problem, you go get treatment for that,” she added.
Annemarie vehemently apologizes to those who were offended by her line of questioning, which has — in typical Bravo fashion — devolved into a debacle known to viewers as “Esopha-gate.”
“Let me just start by saying [sorry] to anyone and everyone that was hurt, offended with me saying my facetious remark: ‘Oh, if you have a stricture, you just chew your food,’” she says on “Virtual Reali-Tea.”
“I was being very facetious when I said that. And lesson learned in that, as a [medical] professional on this platform, I now understand that I’m not going to be given the same kind of … leeway to be nonsensical like some of the other ladies will be with some things.”
Annemarie emphasizes that it wasn’t her intention to “offend anybody” with jocular commentary on an “actually very serious” topic. “I apologize for that,” she asserts.
The mother of four says she only became curious after her pal Kyle Richards remarked to the “Beverly Hills” ladies that Stracke doesn’t eat much, a habit that the latter blamed on having a narrow esophagus.
“I’m really trying to understand what [Stracke’s] talking about and this is why,” she explains. “It’s being presented to me — as somebody who’s just meeting the ladies for the first time – as an excuse.”
Annemarie feels Stracke became “very angry and defensive” over her queries about the cause of esophageal challenges, making it difficult for the pair to find common ground amid differing opinions.
“She’s not very forthcoming with information sometimes,” the Project Transition co-founder says. “So that’s really what it is.”
Annemarie has asserted that Stracke’s narrow esophagus is a symptom of an underlying condition rather than a diagnosis, though her adversary doesn’t seem to agree.
“I’m trying to understand what the underlying condition is that it is,” she says. “Like, what’s happening?”
Annemarie acknowledges that it’s tough to illustrate the nuances of such conflict within the 42-minutes that are typically allotted to a singular episode of “Housewives” — another reason she feels Martin’s social media statements against her were uncalled for.
“And then as another reality TV personality, she knows that you don’t always get the full picture. If she actually was responding because she really cared, she would have reached out to me,” says Annemarie, who participated in a medical panel with Martin at BravoCon 2023 in November.
“I thought she was really nice, I thought she was really classy. She didn’t come across as the kind of person that would do that. So … I think it was really sad.”
“The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.
