‘Real Housewives of Dubai’ Star Chanel Ayan Opens Up About Depression and Abuse

Why be basic when you can be this fabulous? It’s words that Chanel Ayan lives by, and what made her a fan-favorite on the first season of The Real Housewives of Dubai. That and of course, and her iconic designer looks.

The outspoken fashionista returns for round two along with Caroline Brooks, Sara Al Madani, Lesa Milan, and former nemesis Caroline Stanbury. Nina Ali stepped away from the Bravo franchise’s international spinoff, but fear not, as Brooks’ good friend Taleen Marie has entered the mix.

With so much time in between seasons, there is a lot to catch up on including how Ayan and Stanbury mended fences. This certainly changes the dynamic within the group. Not to mention a line in the sand seeing Brooks on the other side. The reality star has a lot to celebrate including the launch of her cosmetics line Ayan Beauty. Though beneath the glamorous surface, she has worked through pain and trauma. She revealed last year during a hypnotherapy session with Sara that she was forced to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM) at age 5.

Here the Somalian model and entrepreneur opens up about the good she hopes comes from speaking out, and spills tea on what’s to come from the ladies in the “City of Gold.”

Pictured: (l-r) Taleen Marie, Chanel Ayan — (Photo by: Yasmin Hussain/Bravo)

After everything you’ve been through emotionally, did you have any second thoughts about doing another season? 

Chanel Ayan: Coming into Season 2, I wanted to film, but I wasn’t mentally okay to come back because of what had happened to me in response to the FGM. To have to go through a painful depression I didn’t even know existed. I’ve never been depressed. I’ve come from a family where we had nothing to eat. I lived in a mosque. My father was abusive, a really bad person, but I never felt depressed until my story came out.

When my story came out, I realized, that now the whole world doesn’t see me as, “Oh she is smiling. She is cute, She is a mom and has achieved so much.” They see me as the girl who went through FGM…That put me in a really bad place. Also, I never dealt with it. So when I talked about it on the show, it was the first time I spoke about in 42 years, except only to my family. None of my friends knew I went through that. Now the whole world knew about it.

What kind of response did you get from those in your culture? 

I got a lot of hate for it. If I showed you stuff I’ve collected on my phone, you’d really be shocked. At some point, I got to a point where I couldn’t blame them because I used to be that girl. Until I left my culture and traveled and married a white boy from Idaho. Then I started to realize these things I went through are not normal to go through. You don’t marry outside your culture. You all marry each other. Here I’m talking FGM, I feel so bad not having my body parts. I’m mad I’m being bullied for talking about it. I was in a bad place and thought maybe I shouldn’t have opened up my story. This is still happening though. African countries have decided to bring FGM back. I’m like, “Okay Ayan, this can’t be about you anymore. You have a big platform.”…I don’t want a two-year-old, three-year-old, four-year-old, five-year-old to have to go through what I did. I almost died from it.

After my story aired, my dad became so abusive. Threatened to kill me…It’s hard for people to understand why I’m like this and why I’m doing this. They’re like, “You’re not Somali. We don’t accept you. We don’t claim you. They did one video recently of me being like a transgender. They’re like, “She is not a woman.” That is a compliment! Do you understand that? They are some of the most beautiful people ever. You could do better than that. I went home recently to Kenya to take my mom to South Africa because my mom has dementia. I was telling the girls because I was so scared to go back home because my dad said he would kill me because of the way I dressed and acted on the show and speaking. I don’t know how to explain this. This does not exist in my culture. Even with my cousin Ubah [Hassan] on [Real Housewives of New York], she doesn’t drink alcohol. I drink. She doesn’t get what I get. She is smart and beautiful. She is not as crazy as me. Well a bit crazy, but you know what I mean.

Do you find her being on another show from the same franchise that you are compared to? 

Yeah. We are compared a lot because we can be so much alike in a lot of ways. She doesn’t talk about her culture stuff. I do, so I get a lot of that. I think I should not drink alcohol because I’m going to be in so much trouble. Then again the drama is so interesting.

There is a scene teased where you’re eating popcorn. That is meme and gif material. Tell me a bit about the context of that. 

Let me tell you Stanbury and Brooks are best friends and close. So they’re fighting and I’m really confused because these people are so close. I’m thinking what the hell is going on? I had my popcorn and was like, “This is so good.” I love the drama.

You’re probably like the tables have turned here because you’re friends with Stanbury. 

I know! It’s wild At the [Season 1] reunion, when I gave Stanbury the fire extinguisher. I said, “Hey, I want to give this to you to start fresh, to stop the fire.” From that moment to be honest, even the year before we filmed, we would meet up and talk and catch up. It took time to build up to where we are now. You get to see our friendship in the show. You get to see when I’m a b*tch to her. You get to see when she is a b*tch to me. You see us get along. At the end of the day, it was really good for her to be friends with me because I’m a fabulous person.

Photo by: Chris Haston/Bravo

How do you think this impacts your friendship with Lesa? 

With everyone., right now I’m good friends with every single person. I talk to almost everyone in the cast.

We spoke earlier about your emotional therapy session. You get to confront Sara about comments she made [about you using past trauma to excuse bad behavior]. What can viewers expect to see from that? 

I talked to her about it. I was really upset with her because I felt I was already being bullied. My dad was being abusive to my family because of me. Then I’m this little girl again and thinking I shouldn’t have done it because I put my family in jeopardy because I opened up. I was blaming myself. Then I was getting bullied. I showed her all that. She was like, “Oh my God Ayan, I didn’t know you were bullied.” You see us coming back together and understanding and me understanding her. It was beautiful to watch when I watched it. It was nice for her to understand me because also my business partner Toni told me maybe it came from a language barrier from Aarab to English. She kept saying, victim.

That’s not how I see myself. I’ve never seen myself as a victim my entire life. I’m actually a survivor because I have survived. I have survived poverty, being a child sold to get married. I’ve survived FGM, losing a baby. I’ve survived so much stuff. I’m not a victim. I see myself as somebody who is very delicate but went through so much and tried to figure out her life to be happy. Also, this is why I started my makeup line Ayan Beauty. You’ll get to see this in the show, but a lot of the proceeds go to helping stop FGM. I want to talk about it and go home and bring awareness, especially when I find out African countries are bringing it back. We are in 2024. This happened to me when I was 5. I’m 43. Here we are and still bringing it back What? Why do we need this? I could have died. It causes depression, and anxiety, and makes you not have babies. I deal with this every single day. It’s not easy.

How is Ayan Beauty doing? I read there was a devastating flood in Dubai not long ago and that the business may have been affected. 

We have insurance, but we never thought of flooding. I’ve lived here for 20 years. Toni has been there. Today was the first day we got our water fixed. I had to take three weeks off because we had a lot of water in the office. All lthe electric wires died. We had to clean, and it’s crazy. This is a new business. We’re getting there. I sold a lot at BravoCon. We’re stocked up again. I’m learning all this stuff, and thinking, “I can’t wait to be Rihanna rich.” I used to be a model for Fenty Beauty. That’s how I met her. I look up to her like crazy. I only listen to five people’s music in the world. I listen to Rihanna, Beyoncé, and Nicki Minaj, who I talk about all the time. Bob Marley is my favorite. And I listen to Adele.

That’s a nice mix. 

Oh, I forgot Taylor Swift! I’m one of the swifties.

Taleen is new this season. How do you think she meshes with the group? 

I like Taleen this season a lot. I think she was a great addition to us. The first time she came in, you could see a girl where she talked too much. I had just come from my depression where I wasn’t seeing people or going out. Here we are and she talks. That is when she is with Brooks. When she is alone, she is a great addition. I like her. I get along with her. She is fun. She brings laughs. She brings drama. She is her authentic self, and I like that.

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What can you tease about what we’ll see this season? 

I think I’m excited for people to see how the dynamic changes. We have the best cast trip. That’s going to be epic for me to watch back. I watch it back like everyone watches because I have ADHD, so I don’t remember a lot of things. But I think it’s fun. Drama, betrayal, excitement. You still see it among all of us. We’re like depressed people who love each other. I also think people should understand that this is our second season for us. You have to go back to the others and look back at their second season and then look at ours because I think it feels like we are in the eighth season given what has happened. It is insane.

If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or dial 988. If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.

Real Housewives of Dubai Season 2 premiere, June 2, 9/8c, Bravo