‘RHOD’s LeeAnne Locken Confesses Her Fallout With D’Andra Simmons ‘Was Like Losing Family’

LeeAnne Locken and D’Andra Simmons’ broken friendship shook season 3 of ‘RHOD’ to its core. As season 4 approaches, LeeAnne reflects on the drama and how ‘delicate and difficult’ their relationship still is. She also reveals if she has hope that they’ll reconcile.

LeeAnne Locken and D’Andra Simmons started season 2 of The Real Housewives of Dallas as the best of friends, and ended season 3 as enemies. From D’Andra hashing up rumors about LeeAnne’s then fiancé, Rich Emberlin (they’re now married), to LeeAnne discussing D’Andra’s finances — things completely imploded between the two, all the way up to the season 3 reunion last December.

“I was very blunt and very honest last season, when she [D’Andra] started pulling away from me,” LeeAnne told HollywoodLife during an exclusive interview while promoting season 4 of RHOD, which premieres on Bravo, September 4 at 9/8c. “I wish I would’ve known what she was saying during filming last year, because it would’ve been nice to address it on camera — and not listened to it from her confessionals,” LeeAnne explained. “When D’Andra and I became not friends anymore, it was like losing family.” 

During the season 3 reunion, D’Andra’s mother, Momma Dee, a fixture on the show, offered to help her daughter and LeeAnne work on their friendship. When asked if she believes the show was the reason for her falling out with D’Andra, LeeAnne said, “I think that Dee made it very clear at the reunion that that was exactly the reason for the fall out.” LeeAnne explained, “I think she has 100% influence on her daughter. I think her daughter is how, who and why she is because of how Dee did or did not raise her.” 

By the end of the reunion, it seemed like D’Andra and LeeAnne had made some progress toward a civil ground in their feud. D’Andra apologized to LeeAnne for bringing up rumors about her fiancé, and LeeAnne apologized to D’Andra for talking about her finances. “LeeAnne, I’m sorry that I hurt your feelings. I’m sorry that I poked at you, and I probably should have said things to you that were more private in a private conversation,” D’Andra said during the reunion. “And I apologize to you, because I didn’t take your feelings into consideration as much as I should have.”

LeeAnne also admitted how important her friendship with D’Andra was. “I think the thing I miss most about not being friends with you is not being able to still help you see things differently because I think sometimes Dee does put pressure on you, you know that,” LeeAnne explained at the end of the reunion. “Dee forces you to see things in a way that I don’t think is always healthy for you, and I miss being able to protect you.”

D’Andra later tweeted that she regretted how she handled things with LeeAnne, and admitted, “I will never say never when I talk about my friendship with LeeAnne.” And, LeeAnne agreed in a followup tweet that read, “We’ll see! Anything’s possible!”

However, as much as their relationship appeared to improve, LeeAnne told us that the situation is still delicate. “The other story line that I really am interested to see [in season 4], for myself and to see it play out is why I still feel like it’s the same as the relationship between D’Andra and I,” she said. “I think this year, people are really going to understand the difficult, delicate, and dangerous situation between us. It’s not easy for either of us. And, I think it’ll be very clear why. [It’s] disappointing and sad more than anything. I think the turmoil between D’Andra and mine’s relationship has probably become the center of our show.”

Despite the difficulty of the situation, LeeAnne said she’s “always hopeful” for her relationship with D’Andra. “I Never give up,” she said, noting,
Look at me and Brandy [Redmond], come on.” — Season 4 of The Real Housewives of Dallas premieres on Bravo, September 4 at 9/8c.