Brandi Lynn Glanville (born November 16, 1972) is a television personality from the United States. She is well known for her roles in The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (2011-2016) and Season 2 of The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip (2021).
She also has a podcast called Brandi Glanville Unfiltered and has been on the television shows Celebrity Apprentice, Celebrity Big Brother (both the British and American versions), Famously Single, and My Kitchen Rules. Glanville has two New York Times Best Sellers: Drinking and Tweeting: And Other Brandi Blunders (2013) and Drinking and Dating (2014).
Brandi Glanville Responds to Critics of Her Appearance While Opening up About Her Psoriasis Battle (Exclusive)
Brandi Glanville is tired of people complimenting her appearance. The former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills actress has spent more than ten years dealing with negative comments about her beauty, and she has finally had enough. “I was very depressed and I kind of went offline, I didn’t do any video chats, I didn’t do anything,” the 48-year-old tells ET through video chat.
“And then when I eventually did an interview in Australia, other people caught it up and were like, ‘Brandi looks entirely different. ‘She appears insane!’ They were very cruel.” Headlines labeled Brandi “unrecognizable,” with article after story speculating on what plastic surgery or aesthetic operations the Drinking and Tweeting author underwent.
Brandi eventually felt compelled to divulge a secret medical accident that left her horribly burned and disfigured on her face, and she shared shocking photographs on Twitter. “I didn’t intend to share those photographs since they’re plainly horrible,” Brandi acknowledges. “I feel like Khloe Kardashian in a less famous way, since for the past ten years, people have been commenting on everything about the way I look, everything.
‘She’s made of plastic. She’s this, with too much filler and Botox…’ ‘She’s so false!’ whatever it is. It’s been constant, constant, constant. So I thought to myself, you know what, guys? Here’s where I’m having trouble. I have burns all over my face and will have to live with the scars for the rest of my life. And don’t ever kick me while I’m down.”
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Khloe recently spoke out against body shaming after an unauthorized photo of her surfaced online. While admirers praised the purportedly un-retouched photo as “amazing,” Khloe stated it was her right not to post a photo she didn’t like after years of being mocked for her appearance.
“Who goes after someone because of their appearance?” Brandi inquires. “I feel for Khloe because I’ve been going through it for ten years and no one has anything positive to say. And it’s almost as though, even if I did get a bunch of plastic surgery – which I intend to do one day – why is anyone else commenting on it? Why should it be up to them to exclaim, “Oh my goodness!”
People don’t seem to believe that people they see on TV will age and change with time, according to Brandi. Plastic surgery, fillers, or Botox are not always used to improve one’s appearance. “I gained 20 pounds during COVID,” she admits. “I’m ten years older than you. I’m no longer 35 years old. Many of [the Housewives] appear younger than they did ten years ago.
Wow, I’m thinking. I need to get started on something. But we change, and it’s a natural part of the process. It’s called life. I’m like, I’m not supposed to get older? Why can’t I get ‘COVID-19’ like everyone else? “Come on, people.” “I mean, you’re entitled to your view, but don’t blame it on me,” Brandi continues. “I am concerned about what my family thinks. I don’t care what the detractors think.
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I mean, I’m already suffering from anxiety and sadness as a result of the pandemic. I’m taking antidepressants. That sort of thing was counterproductive. After seeing those articles, I didn’t get out of bed for three days. “I was completely devastated.” Brandi accepts full responsibility for the scarring episode, blaming it on “user error” when using a special light to treat her psoriasis.
She left the high-intensity rays on her face for more than 17 minutes, despite the fact that she was only intended to utilize the dermatologist’s instrument for a little more than 17 seconds. “I have psoriasis, and it was all over my face during the pandemic, and I’d never had it on my face before, and I was covered in it,” Brandi explains. “When you look in the mirror, your face is bleeding and cracked, and it’s horrible. As a result, my dermatologist recommended this light therapy.”
“I had no idea — it doesn’t even feel like it’s burning,” she says. “And then I got up and my face was swelled and then blisters were growing, and I was just like, oh my god. Then I couldn’t see for three days since it burned my retina and stripped my eyelashes.”
“I’m not going to blame anyone except myself, but it stinks,” she adds. Brandi’s psoriasis fight unexpectedly brought her closer to Eddie Cibrian’s wife, LeAnn Rimes, who publicly acknowledged her own difficulties with the skin illness last fall. While the two famously feuded, they are currently on friendly terms.
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“We discuss it all the time,” Brandi says. “We were discussing it at supper last night. She shared her medication with me for a long since I didn’t have medical insurance, which was extremely kind of her, but… we’re two peas in a pod and, yeah, we absolutely talk about it.”
“It’s what we bond over,” she explains. “It’s not like we’re overjoyed, but…” Brandi is gaining power by reclaiming the narrative surrounding her appearance, but she has one simple request for the future: Be gentle.
“Right now, we’re all going through something,” she says. “The last thing we should be doing is picking on each other. Come after me if you have a problem with my character or anything else. But if you just want to be cruel and make me feel horrible about how I look, I’m not interested. Be kind, I think. That is ultimately what it boils down to; remember, we are all human beings, and it does affect us.”
“What if someone got in a car accident and their face was messed up, and you assumed they had plastic surgery and went after them?” She inquires. “They are already depressed because they are attempting to heal. Don’t be swayed by other people’s appearances. The color of their skin, and their sexual orientation, are both off-limits.”
Brandi wishes for a more caring world once the pandemic is over. She’s spent the previous year pondering her next step, contacting Andy Cohen about perhaps joining Bravo’s Chat Room for at least a guest stint – “Come on, guys! “Mama needs a job,” she jokes while studying for her real estate license.
“I just finished my real estate classes,” she admits. “During COVID, I was simply so bored. I had no idea what to do with myself and was becoming depressed since I felt as if I was doing nothing. So I just thought to myself, I’m a pretty honest person.
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Perhaps People Will Want to Buy Property from Me Since I Am Trustworthy?”
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Being a realtor might lead to additional reality TV opportunities for the celebrity, though she’s not sure she’d want to follow that route. When asked if she wants to be a part of Netflix’s Selling Sunset, Brandi replies she doesn’t want to clash with her friend Christine Quinn.
“I adore her,” she exclaims. “[And] I don’t think she needs me to accompany her. She’s doing rather well for herself.” Brandi is presently appearing on a different Netflix show, the sitcom Family Reunion. She appears in a Part 3 episode spoofing The Real Housewives with Kenya Moore and Candiace Dillard. Brandi says she based her character, Heidi, on Heather Dubrow from The Real Housewives of Orange County.
“Honestly, I just wanted her to be utterly arrogant, rude, and catty — and that’s not how I am, honestly,” she laughs. “So why not take advantage of the opportunity to act like a snob?” “[Heather’s] so together and uppity, but in a nice way — I like her, but she just has that snob appeal,” she says. Brandi also says she’s willing to return any calls from Netflix.
“Those actors are so dedicated and talented, and everyone was so pleasant – and you don’t usually get that,” she says. “I’d previously worked on acting sets where there was a lot of attitudes. So it was rather refreshing. Everyone was friendly. Everyone was eager to assist and make suggestions. And that was simply wonderful. It was almost like a family.”
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Speaking of family, Brandi is seeking assistance for her extended family. Mark Hasche, her hair, and makeup artist, is currently battling pancreatic cancer, with medical costs totaling more than $350,000.
“Mark is my best friend,” adds Brandi. “He was beginning his transformation from male to girl. He was taking hormones, after all. That was the plan; we were going on this excursion together, even though he wasn’t feeling well. He walked into the emergency department and never came out.”
“He’s going to start pretty aggressive chemo,” she says, “and during the pandemic, he lost his medical insurance because he wasn’t working. So I wanted to do something to assist… So I established a GoFundMe campaign with the goal of raising $50,000.”
“It kills my heart,” Brandi confesses. “I don’t just want to help him with his medical bills; I want him to be able to go and get the surgeries he wants so that he can live his true, authentic self as Mia for God knows how long.”
Visit this GoFundMe page to learn more about Mark’s battle. All episodes of Family Reunion are now available on Netflix, and you can keep up with Brandi on Twitter, Instagram, and her podcast, Brandi Glanville Unfiltered, which is available wherever podcasts are available.