“RHOP”'s Robyn Dixon Blasts Juan Dixon Affair Rumors in Season 8 Premiere: 'The World Wants to Tear Us Apart'

"You want me to divorce?" Robyn Dixon asks her friends, who feel she is burying her head in the sand

Robyn and Juan Dixon are tuning out negative talk about their marriage — or, at least they’re trying to.

When The Real Housewives of Potomac returned for its eighth season on Sunday, the women were still reeling from the revelation earlier this year that a woman came forward with a hotel room receipt that Juan had signed.

The woman claimed she came to town from Canada to see Juan, but Juan has maintained he was being a Good Samaritan by simply paying for a room after she lost her wallet. The he said/she said aside, Juan also admitted to corresponding with her via direct message on Instagram. After that incident, Juan was allegedly spotted out again with other women on two separate occasions: once at a laundromat and another time at a nail salon.

All these reports of Juan’s wandering eye put a damper on the Dixons’ honeymoon phase following their second wedding. (The two, who first wed in 2005, split in 2012 after Juan, a basketball coach and former NBA pro, cheated. They remarried in 2022.)

Related: Robyn Dixon Admits 'Idiot' Husband Juan Dixon's DMs with Another Woman Stalled Their Wedding: 'We Worked Through It'

“Real life is a bitch,” Robyn told Juan as she put their new wedding photos into picture frames at their Maryland home. “All the noise that’s been going on. The whole girl with the hotel receipt.”

“Once again, that was stupid,” Juan said. “That was foolish.”

“We chose to move forward. We chose to get married,” said Robyn, who believes her husband is innocent of any wrongdoing. Speaking of those who doubt the couple, she added, “They think our relationship is fake or we have an arrangement.”

It certainly seemed that way to the Grande Dame of Potomac, Karen Huger, as well as Candiace Dillard Bassett and Wendy Osefo, who all gathered for drinks and discussed the Dixons’ relationship.

“Robyn has some ownership to take,” Karen told the women. “Because [the] truth has come out, and we can only get along if we are being honest. The biggest liar is the woman who hid her truth. We were the targets in order not to talk about her truth.”

Candiace was particularly bothered. Robyn previously admitted she knew about rumors of Juan’s infidelity while filming season 7 but kept quiet about it. During that season, Candiace’s husband, Chris Bassett, faced accusations from his wife’s costars Gizelle Bryant and Ashley Darby, who said he acted inappropriately toward them.

“The focus of the entire year became maligning my husband’s name, when we discovered that all this time she has a whole scandal with her husband,” Candiace said in a confessional.

At the table with the women, Candiace reiterated that Robyn “behaved with all of us as if everything was fine.”

Wendy then chimed in, saying Robyn “doesn’t care if [Juan] cheats on her” and added that she thinks the Dixons have “an arrangement.”

“Are they even married?” Candiace asked, to which Wendy replied, “Have you seen the marriage certificate?”

In non-Dixon happenings, Ashley, who is still legally wed to Michael Darby despite their split in 2022, showed off her new $2.2 million “coastal chic” home—a big change from the urban penthouse she once shared with her husband and their two sons Dean and Dylan.

“It’s definitely different having Dean and Dylan in the house without Michael. I’m [a] full-time mom,” said Ashley, who admitted her ex’s name is still on the mortgage of the home. She’s in “no rush” to take his name off the mortgage, either, because if something goes wrong, “he’s there to help me.”

Gizelle, meanwhile, introduced viewers to her new boyfriend: Winter House star Jason Cameron, who happens to be 16 years younger.

"No one’s counting,” she said of the age difference. “He’s a young hot thing, a little tenderoni.”

Cameron is based in New York, but so far, the distance doesn’t seem to be inhibiting their romance. “We try to see each other as much as we can,” said Gizelle.

Related: RHOP Star Mia Thornton Separates from Husband Gordon Thornton: 'Family Is My No. 1 Priority' (Exclusive)

As for Mia Thornton, she and her husband Gordon downsized from their grand 10,000-square-foot rental to a 1,500-square-foot home that she compared to the size of a closet. “My old closet space is my new living space,” she quipped.

The Thorntons have had a “strain” on their income, explained Mia, after the chiropractic businesses they operated with Gordon’s family were taken away by their relatives for unexplained reasons. It’s not the only change Mia has endured as she cut out cocktails because “they’re mind- and mood-altering.” The result? “My mouth is probably a little bit more filtered,” she said.

The episode climaxed as Gizelle hosted an “open forum” for friends Charrisse Jackson-Jordan and Ashley to talk to Robyn about the situation with Juan.

Related: Real Housewives of Potomac Season 8 Trailer Teases Demons, Divorces and a 'New Grand Dame' (Exclusive)

All three women have dealt with infidelity or rumors of infidelity in their own past relationships, so they were each coming from a place of concern. But still, the conversation had the potential to be more treacherous than the unsteady pathway the women tried to navigate as they made their way to Gizelle’s patio.

“This is a little tough love,” Gizelle told Robyn, adding, “We are here to support you as it relates to Juan. This is just an open forum to talk.”

Ashley then brought up the sighting of Juan with another woman at the nail salon photo, saying, “I got really upset for you.”

But Robyn jumped to her husband’s defense, saying the woman at the nail salon was a female friend he’d worked with for three years, and the laundromat story was a “straight lie,” adding, “People are out here putting out blatant lies when they say, ‘Oh, they were hugged up.’”

“He’s not dumb enough to be anywhere in public being affectionate and physical with another woman,” insisted Robyn.

But the other women didn’t think Juan should even be putting himself in situations where he’s out and about with another woman, regardless of whether or not she’s a platonic friend. “He is not thinking about you, saying, ‘You know what, this is bad optics,’” Gizelle told Robyn.

“I’m not going to tell him to end his friendship,” said Robyn. “I’m not going to tell him, Oh, you can’t do certain things that were fine before. At this point, I don’t care.”

Robyn said that because of the constant barrage of negative headlines, “My joy has been stolen.”

“Do you feel like we have your back? Cause we’re here today because we do,” Gizelle said as Robyn responded, “All of this has been a pile-on, and this is cruel.”

Charisse, whose ex-husband was also unfaithful, grew emotional, saying Robyn’s situation “looks so familiar.”

Related: 'RHOP' 's Robyn Dixon Says She Wouldn't Have Gotten Back Together with Juan If They Weren't Broke

“So are you saying I’m in denial”? Robyn asked Charrisse, who ultimately says she’s getting that “vibe.” Watching Robyn make excuses for Juan, continued Charrisse, “made my heart bleed for you.”

Ashley chimed in, saying she felt like Robyn was on a “protect Juan campaign.” However, Robyn explained that she was, indeed, mad when she learned Juan was communicating with the woman in question. “I found out, I was angry, I told him to get the f–k out. We worked through it,” said Robyn, who admitted that Juan didn’t actually leave.

“Would you ever put him out?” asked Gizelle. “If there was another hotel receipt? If there was another incident? Would you put him out?”

“Yes,” Robyn insisted.

Related: The Real Housewives of Potomac Ladies Bring Their Tagline A-Game Ahead of Season 8 Premiere

Gizelle wasn’t convinced, and told her friend, “I don’t want you to ever lose sight of you.”

Robyn grew frustrated, explaining it seemed like her friends wanted her to be angry. “You want me to divorce? What do you want me to do?” she asked.

“What do you want to do?” replied Gizelle as Robyn said, “I want to keep living and get through this.”

As the episode came to a close, Gizelle said in a confessional, “Robyn lives life according to Juan. But Robyn and I are very close and I’ve been feeling her pain and I feel like one day it’ll bubble up and explode.”

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The Real Housewives of Potomac airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.

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