Flipping Out's Jeff Lewis Says Jenni Pulos Hasn't Responded to His Apology: 'She's Ghosted Me'
Jeff Lewis is still hoping for a reconciliation with his former Flipping Out costar, Jenni Pulos, but he hasn’t heard from her after reaching out to her with a personal apology for their messy friendship fallout.
On Monday’s episode of his SiriusXM radio show Jeff Lewis Live, the 49-year-old house flipper and designer revealed that Pulos had yet to respond to the text message he sent her last week.
“I’m still waiting on that response,” Lewis said. “She ghosted me!”
As disappointed as he was, Lewis said he understood Pulos’ hesitation.
“You know what? I reached out and I extended an olive branch. She’s not ready,” he said.
“I am not looking for an apology, that’s not why I am doing this,” he added. “I want to feel okay on my end. I am in a place now where I have let go of whatever hurt, anger, and I want to clear up my end of things. I’m not looking for retribution, an apology, or whatever. I don’t want to fight anymore, I don’t want to attack her. This is not — I don’t want her to think she’s walking into some trap.”
A rep for Pulos did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
On last Monday’s Jeff Lewis Live, Lewis said he had extended a text message apology to Pulos in an attempt to make amends. He recited the message to his listeners.
“What I wrote to her is, ‘Hi, Happy New Year. I hope you and your family are happy and healthy. Would you be open to meeting with me sometime?’ ” Lewis said. “‘I don’t feel good about what happened between us and I’m very sorry for my role in it.’ “
Lewis later explained that he wanted the message to lead to an in-person meeting. “I’m hoping that she gets back to me,” said Lewis. “I would love to sit down and talk to her.”
And while he was going into the conversation hopeful the two could bury the hatchet, Lewis said he was open to whatever Pulos wanted to make of it.
“I don’t expect anything in return from her,” Lewis said. “I plan on clearing my conscience and telling her everything that I’m sorry for, but I’m not going to do it and be like, ‘Well what are you sorry for?’ That should happen in her own time. Or not!”
“[We have a] long, long history together,” Lewis added. “She’s like my sister. We live basically in the same neighborhood. I know I’m going to run into her some day, I don’t want it to be awkward. I have no expectations attached to this. I just don’t want it to be uncomfortable if I run into her.”
Lewis and Pulos, 47, were friends for nearly 20 years before they got into an argument while filming season 11 of Flipping Out in which Pulos lamented that her job at Lewis’s design firm, Jeff Lewis Design was keeping her from the acting career she always wanted.
The two went their separate ways days later, with Lewis letting Pulos go from her role at has business. Their emotional confrontation aired on what many believe to be Flipping Out‘s final episode (the show has yet to be picked up by Bravo for another season, over a year later).
Previously, Lewis has said that meeting was the last time he and Pulos have spoken.
Lewis also accused Pulos of making complaints about him to Bravo HR, an accusation which she vehemently denied to PEOPLE.
Pulos opened up about the rift for the first time last November, saying that she was blindsided when he fired her. “I had no idea it was coming,” she said.
She went on to say during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen that same month that the ending of her relationship with Lewis was especially difficult because of their longtime close ties (Pulos — who shares daughters Alianna, 6, and Georgia, 2, with husband Dr. Jonathan Nassos, is also the godmother to Lewis’ daughter Monroe, 3).
“The whole thing is wild and completely unexpected,” Pulos said. “I have loved him like a brother and I always will. I wish him and [Monroe] the best and their family and his father. They’ve been a big part of my life for a long time.”
RELATED: From Godparents to Parting Ways: Inside Jeff Lewis and Jenni Pulos’ Volatile Friendship
Lewis first teased a possible attempt to reconcile with Pulos back in December, during an appearance on Andy Cohen‘s SiriusXM show.
“I do believe there will be a reconciliation with Jenni, and the reason I know that is because the person who cuts my hair cuts Jenni’s hair and I’ve been hearing things through her,” Lewis said. “Like, she’s ready to accept a phone call.”
“I do apologize for my role, absolutely,” Lewis added. “I know what I did. … I think a reconciliation is inevitable.”
If Lewis does make up with Pulos, she’ll be the second Flipping Out star with whom he found peace after a fight. He and his former housekeeper, Zoila Chavez, had repaired their bond back in October.
Jeff Lewis Live airs weekdays (12 p.m. ET) on SiriusXM Radio Andy (Ch. 102)
