Kelsey Swanson’s mysterious connection to Liz McGraw’s “best friend” Dino was finally revealed on The Real Housewives of Rhode Island.
In the aftermath of their argument over “ongoing” affair rumors, Liz had cryptically alluded to the fact that Kelsey had “her own story with Dino,” but declined to elaborate at the time. In an Episode 4 confessional, however, Liz spilled the tea that Kelsey and Dino had a brief “romantic relationship,” several years ago.
Later, Kelsey spoke for herself as she and Liz hashed out the drama that ignited between them at Gerry McGraw’s birthday party. “I think maybe it was because I have a different experience with him myself,” she said, referring to Dino. “Just my instinct was to, like, withdraw and, like, put him off because mine wasn’t so good.”
RELATED:Â Kelsey Swanson Details Her Two Relationships on the RHORI After Show (EXCLUSIVE)
As Kelsey explained to a producer, “I had a very weak, vulnerable moment of my life almost 10 years ago and hooked up with Dino. Me and my boyfriend weren’t exclusively dating. At the time I wasn’t getting attention, he happened to be the one to fill that void.”
However, she recalled quickly realizing that the romance “wasn’t for” her, and she eventually “hated” Dino. As Kelsey reminded Liz, the more she “tried to distance” herself from him, the more Dino responded by doing the exact opposite.
“He would show up to places that I was at and not want me to talk to other people or other guys,” she claimed in her confessional. “That’s why I tried just, like, cutting him, like, completely out of my life. Him being around is just like another reminder of my past that I’m trying to forget.”
More details on Kelsey Swanson and Liz McGraw’s conversation about Dino
Liz had kicked off their dockside conversation, amid a clean-out of her husband Gerry’s boat, by shedding light on why she’d “lost [her] s–t” on Kelsey at the birthday party. From her perspective, it seemed as though Kelsey had “cosigned onto that narrative” about her and Dino’s alleged affair, in an effort to maybe distance herself from her own “ugly” issues with him.
As Kelsey, for her part, put it to Liz, “I appreciate his friendship to you and how he took care of you, but I didn’t have that same experience. I have, like, PTSD over it.”
Liz replied, “I get that, babe. We’ve had vastly different experiences. I know you want nothing to do with that. I understand it. I do.”
RELATED:Â Liz McGraw and Kelsey Swanson Reveal Where They Stand After Their Huge Fight (EXCLUSIVE)
Kelsey, meanwhile, confirmed that she does, indeed, “avoid it like the plague,” and Liz insisted that she understood where she was coming from.
Either way, both women said they were sorry, before clinking their wine glasses.
“Onward and upward, my little sis,” Liz declared. “Now will you help me move the rest of my s–t off this f–kin’ boat so we can all move on?”
Inside Liz McGraw’s “very close” friendship with Dino
Previously on RHORI, Liz shared that Dino had been a “very close friend” of hers and Gerry’s for roughly 20 years.
“He’s my little brother,” Liz elaborated to a producer during Episode 2. “I love this person. We also had an unconventional friendship that people didn’t understand. Was it completely right? No. Did we have this torrid affair? No. Did I ever sleep with this human? No. But he means a lot to me.”
She went on to say, “Years ago, my husband took up sport fishing. Gerry was gone three weeks out of four. So, when Gerry wasn’t here, I’m always with Dino. And I know people say, ‘They had this affair.’ … It’s all bulls–t.”
In the following episode, Liz further unpacked the “mortifying” accusations that she was cheating on Gerry with Dino.
“When Gerry was going to be gone, it wasn’t uncommon for him to actually call Dino and say, ‘Look after her,'” she added in another producer interview. “So, yes, we would be out three and four times a week sometimes. I’m sure people spotted us at clubs, sometimes just the two of us.”
Regardless, Liz chalked the gossip up to being nothing more than “a cool, sexy story” that she maintained was categorically false.
As the drama continues on RHORI, get more details on Liz and Kelsey’s fight over the Dino rumors.
