In an all new interview with VH1, Basketball Wives star Gloria Govan is speaking out on her experience with being on the hit show.
Gloria speaks out on the drama with Royce, her fiance Matt Barnes stating that he is “disgusted” with the show, and briefly touches on the scandal of her sister, Laura Govan, having an affair with Shaquille O’Neal. Gloria also reveals her wedding is coming up in August and that she will not be returning for a second season.
Excerpts from Gloria’s interview below –
And how do you feel about the show? Do you feel like your portrayal is accurate?
To a certain extent. I didn’t know the women coming into the show, so I think sometimes I may come off a little naive. I may come off as the shy-girl-in-the-background type, which is not my personality at all. I’ve never had a problem telling anybody how I feel. On the show, though, I’m being me, 100 percent real the whole time so there’s no surprises. I haven’t seen any surprises.
What did you think of the fact that Jennifer and Evelyn seem insistent on pushing the point that he’s not as faithful as you seem to think he is?
You have these grown women who have been in the game for so long, and you would think they would say, “Hey listen, Gloria, I’ve been there done that for the past 10 years and here are my stories, here is my advice, take it for what it’s worth and good luck.” Instead they have to be so persistent and try to taint our relationship. I look at it as being bitter and jealous. I’m 10 years younger than most of the cast members on the show, I’m 24-years-old, and I’m in a respectful, loving relationship, I’m getting married in August, I have two beautiful kids and a family who loves me, and a lot of them are missing a majority of those components. It’s natural for them to be envious of what I have.
They’ve gone as far as to suggest that they have, maybe secondhand evidence, that Matt has been unfaithful to you. Do you have any response to that?
No. I think that they’re just very scarred individuals who don’t have anything else better to do than try to create misery. They would be happy if I was where they are now, and that’s unfortunate. If you’re someone who thrives on someone else’s misery and you’re trying to break up a happy home, I just think it’s kind of sad.
What did you think about Matt saying the show “disgusted” him in a recent interview?
Matt is very opinionated. I just asked him to make sure that he pinpoints exactly what disgusts him next time. That’s just such a broad and vague comment that it could be interpreted in any way. It didn’t surprise me, though. Matt has told me several times that he doesn’t like the show. It’s not necessarily about my role, but just how bitter the other women are. Bitter and angry and just jealous. He’s just like, “That’s not a good look, that’s not who you are, that’s not who you represent.” I think he’s more concerned about people thinking that I run in this kind of circle, because I don’t. I can’t say that I was disgusted by the first episode, but you know, I wasn’t really a fan.
Your storyline isn’t exactly drama-free, though. When you talk about Royce you say to fraternize with her would be like sleeping with the enemy.
What I mean by that is Royce is Dwight Howard’s baby mother, and Matt is on the same team as Dwight Howard, so being friends with Royce is not worth messing up Matt’s team camaraderie. If Royce comes over here and we’re all buddy-buddy and Matt’s around, that could really end up messing up Matt and Dwight’s friendship.
Obviously the reason she was so aggressive in the boxing ring is because everyone had sort of informed her of your opinion of her. Did you feel betrayed by everyone at that point?
Not necessarily betrayed, I just think that they realize that I’m not going to conform to their little group, and so I think they try really hard to make me the black sheep or the outsider. Which is fine. I don’t have a problem with that, it was just kind of funny that they try to make it seem like I’m the only one who feels this way. They’re so quick to tell Royce, “Oh, well Gloria said this,” but in turn, they were agreeing with me or it may have been that they started the conversation and I just chimed in a little bit. I just think it was everybody’s opportunity to say, “Now we have a way to turn the tables.”
I’m sure that you don’t want to get into it about your sister’s alleged affair with Shaq, but did that add any level of stress as well? The fact that you were coming in with people already whispering about your family?
No. Like I said, in the show, they already formed their opinions and they’re already friends with Shaunie. And although I’m friends with Shaunie, I can’t say that we talk on the phone or we text each other. We are cordial, but she’s not invited to my wedding. She’s not that type of friend, so it didn’t bother me. You guys have already formed your own opinions, and I’m not here to change that. I’m here to say you’re not going to talk about my sister in front of me and think that that’s OK.
Knowing what you know about the way the show turned out, would you do it all over again?
No. No, no.
Would you participate in a second season?
No.
An all new episode of Basketball Wives airs tonight on VH1.
