Ashley Darby headed into BravoCon 2025 as a single woman looking for love. The Real Housewives of Potomac mom shared more details about her romantic life during the November 15 panel Getting Lucky at the Love Hotel. At one point during the sit-down, moderator Holly Robinson Peete asked Ashley to name the Bravoleb — male or female — with whom she could see herself making a love connection.
“You know who I found oddly very charming? Chef Ben [Robinson]. Is that his name?” she said about the Below Deck Down Under cast member. “He was just very charming and very quirky — not my type physically but mentally.”
Ashley Darby explains what attracted her to Chef Ben Robinson
Ashley went on to say that she now identifies as a demisexual, a person who becomes sexually attracted to another after forming an emotional bond.
“In my younger days, I was just sexual. Now I’m demisexual,” she explained. “You gotta tell me a joke, teach me a word. Actually, Ben taught us a word backstage. I don’t remember now, but it was something I didn’t know. That’s all that matters.”
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Ashley Darby says she’s “manifesting” a second marriage and more kids
BravoCon 2025 went down about nine months after Ashley finalized her divorce from Michael Darby, the Australian-born restaurateur with whom she shares two children.
Since announcing her marital split in the spring of 2022, Ashley has repeatedly expressed interest in getting remarried and expanding her family.
“Oh, I am getting married again,” she said during the panel. “It’s a manifestation. I’m speaking it into existence that I will be getting married again. And I kind of want another baby… I’m thinking within the next two years.”
Is Ashley Darby still seeing Josh Gudenburr?
Ashley’s dating life has been well documented over the past year. Fans got a look at her new chapter in Bravo’s Love Hotel, in which she and other single Housewives attempted to make romantic connections among a pool of eligible bachelors. Prior to joining the series, Ashley had become involved with Josh Gudenburr, a man she had met in RHOP Season 9. Ashley was asked about Josh during the BravoCon panel Potomac Takes Vegas, suggesting their relationship was in a gray area.
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“He’s hard to quit,” she told an audience member before explaining her unique approach to dating. “I was actually talking to Lala Kent back at the hotel. She was like, ‘Are you dating? How do you date?’ Because she’s in a similar situation. She’s in her 30s, she’s a mom with two kids. And what I told her is, ‘You need to have a public boyfriend and a private boyfriend.’ You just need to have a little roster… have one that you take out to play and another one to cuddle with at night.”
Learn more about Ashley’s single mom chapter and how she and Michael are coparenting their young sons, Dean and Dylan Darby.
