“Real Housewives of Dubai” newbie Taleen Marie is clapping back at castmate Saba Yussouf for implying she has a drinking problem.
“Clearly, she hasn’t been to a fun brunch and I feel bad for her about that,” Marie, 36, explains on Page Six’s “Virtual Reali-Tea” podcast, directly referencing a recent X post from Yussouf claiming she gets “blind drunk by 9am.”
“And then she goes, ‘I’m also happy I’ve never been to AA’ — which I haven’t,” the singer-turned-Bravolebrity continues. “And then I go, ‘Saba in AA stands up and says, ‘Hi, my name is Saba and [I] add nothing to this show.’”
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The ladies’ heated social media exchange took place last week after a reality TV fan account recapped highlights from an Instagram Live session from Marie, during which she called Yussouf “boring AF.”
Marie tells “Virtual Reali-Tea” that she stands by her assessment of her fellow “Housewives” rookie, who joined Season 2 as a “friend of” the cast while the former nabbed a full-time position.
“I was on my Live [on] Instagram and I said that she was boring — and she is — and she didn’t like that,” she explains. “So we had a little back and forth.”
However, the mom of two — who shares young daughters Gabrielle and Sienna with husband Rafael Khanoyan — insists that their spat was “all in good fun.”
“She’s a sweetheart,” she emphasizes, before doubling down on her initial opinion of Yussouf. “But [she’s] just boring.”
The Tal Fitness founder goes on to say that Yussouf is an “interesting” person with a “judgmental” disposition.
“I think we have very different personalities. When I first met her, I felt like she was just a little judgmental of the group. She kind of had her nose in the air,” she says. “I have no hate for the girl but we are just extremely different.”
But Marie also points out that Yussouf at least has a sense of humor. She reached out after their social media spat made waves online, expressing her amusement over the fan reactions.
“We laughed about it. She WhatsApped me and, like, literally had laughing faces [in her message],” she shares. “So it’s not that deep. She gets it; it’s not that deep.”
Still, Marie says Yussouf — and her other co-stars, Lesa Milan, Caroline Stanbury, Caroline Brooks, Chanel Ayan and Sara Al Madani — should beware, as she’s capable of serving serious shade.
“I can go deep,” she teases. “I have it in me, I do.”
Marie entered the group via Brooks, 38, whom she is no longer friends with due to a feud that broke out during production for the sophomore edition of “RHODubai.”
The entrepreneur tells us that her burgeoning bonds with the other women — particularly Brooks’ onscreen adversary, Stanbury, 48 — created friction in their dynamic.
“I do think that once she saw that I was getting closer with all the girls, really, it just wasn’t going her way,” Marie says, noting that she felt her friendship with Brooks was “strong enough” to withstand the challenges of filming an unscripted series together.
“It’s TV and you see different sides of people and there’s different dynamics with the other women and the drama is all real that happens,” she elaborates. “And it’s sad because we did have a solid friendship.”
Marie is holding out hope, though, that she and Brooks can one day make amends.
“Never say never, I hope one day we can sort some things out because she was one of my first friends in [Dubai],” she tells us. “But things change. There’s ebbs and flows in friendships.”
“The Real Housewives of Dubai” airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.
