Stacey Rusch has opened up about her conflict with Keiarna Stewart following the latest episode of The Real Housewives of Potomac that aired on Sunday night.

Credit: Trae Patton/Bravo

The tension between the two reached a boiling point during the episode, prompting Stacey to subtly criticize Keiarna’s “issues” and assert that she remains unaffected by her fellow cast member. The situation was a hot topic among the cast, with Wendy Osefo suggesting that Keiarna confronted Stacey as a bid for attention. Meanwhile, Keiarna expressed her disappointment, stating she found Stacey lacking in authenticity.

On the November 30 episode of RHOP: After Show, Stacey shared her perspective, saying, “I don’t live my life trying to push buttons, but apparently I do. I don’t think about Kay. I think that’s probably the biggest sentence of the season for me, is I’m not thinking about Kay.”

Wendy added, “And that bothers her. She wants her to.”

“And that bothers her. She wants her to,” Wendy interjected.

“Well, we can all want,” Stacey replied. “[And] it is not my job to analyze or unpack Kay’s issues. We do not have enough time in this show for that.”

Elsewhere, as Monqiue Samuels noted that Stacey “infuriates” Keiarna, saying that she simply doesn’t have “the capacity to be around Stacey,” Tia Glover said the women “have it out for each other,” and Gizelle Bryant said they “become different people” when they fight.

Ashley Darby also weighed in, recalling that after the cast’s trip to Lake Norman, in which Stacey and Keiarna shared a room, Keiarna suggested Stacey was a different person behind closed doors.

“The night before we left to come back home, Kay even said, ‘Y’all don’t know Stacey.’ She said, ‘The person that I see at night in our room, that’s not who y’all see,’” she explained. “So Kay has already been onto this charade that Stacey is putting up, and I think she’s done.”

Although Gizelle seemed to think that Stacey and Keiarna acted differently when they interacted with each other, Wendy and Stacey thought otherwise.

“I don’t think Kay becomes a different person when she argues with Stacey. I feel like when Kay is angry, that’s who she really is,” Wendy suspected.

“I agree,” Stacey replied.

In her own RHOP: After Show segment, Keiarna described herself as a “grown a** woman” who knows how to “have a conversation” before admitting that she doesn’t exactly dislike Stacey.

“I don’t not like Stacey. I think she’s a great time when she’s being whatever version of herself that’s normal. But it’s exhausting for me to see somebody play on my intelligence consistently with things that I know are facts. And she manages to throw rocks and hide them very well,” Keiarna noted. 

According to Keiarna, she feels that Stacey has an air about her that’s “not real.”

“I’m totally for, this is your persona, and you’re able to stay in it, and I think that’s an art, but for me, the realness in myself, it’s just like, ‘Girl, I’m trying to find something about you that could be likable that is true to who you are,’” she explained.

“Everyone else in this group finds some level of authenticity to show for themselves and what they have going on, and I’m just very unimpressed by it,” she added.

The Real Housewives of Potomac season 10 airs Sundays at 8/7c on Bravo.