Michele StuevenIt was a brief moment among close family and friends, with 14 dozen red roses, one mega bouquet of more than 100 roses, and a red runway with over 10,000 strategically placed rose petals and candles. It was a high point when Bozoma Saint John accepted Keely Watson’s marriage proposal in the Season 15 finale of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
“It was such a surprise,” Saint John told LA Weekly at a viewing party at the home of LA artist and close friend Harmonia Rosales, for the season finale that also included castmate Dorit Kemsley. “ I was supposed to be going to dinner with my daughter, which isn’t unusual for us to get all dressed up. Plus, we were coming to the end of the season in filming, and it was sort of our last hurrah. I could talk about my relationship with Keely and what we wanted to do about IVF, and just kind of wrap things up. There was no reason for me to have any suspicions. I was genuinely surprised.”
There will be two weddings. The first will be a traditional Ghanaian marriage ceremony in the West African country in August. No white dress or aisle to walk down, just a very colorful marriage of families that the couple will play a very small part in. Then the American wedding takes place in Beverly Hills in November, with all the bells and whistles of a Western wedding.
Courtesy Bozoma Saint John
Much of the rest of the finale centers on the housewives, including Kyle Richards, Erika Jayne, Sutton Stracke, and newcomer Amanda Frances, continuing to dogpile on Kemsley, who counts the grounded Saint John as her only ally.
“Dorit is in a tough spot,” says Saint John. “She’s going through such a tough time, I have a lot of empathy for her. I have three younger sisters. Being the eldest growing up, my parents depended on me to keep order, so I could never be the one who instigated a fight. I was the one who had to break it up and was always the mediator, or showed up at school if my sister was being bullied and defended her. I’ve always been the protector and the one who tries to figure out the solution immediately. In my corporate career, it was necessary. There’s no way you can allow conflict to stew. You wouldn’t be a great leader if that happened on your team. I think the combination of those two things is why I am the way I am. But I also had to learn on this particular show with this group of women, you kind of have to let things play out. I can’t always step in. There are relationships I don’t completely understand the dynamics of, and people have to work it out for themselves.”
What promises to be a humdinger of epic proportions, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Season 15 reunion is set to begin airing on Thursday, April 23, at 8 p.m. on Bravo.
RHOBH viewing party from left: Bozoma Saint John, Dorit Kemsley, and Keely Watson (Michele Stueven)