Love and (cold) coffee. Ashley Darby has been a staple of Real Housewives of Potomac since the beginning. Smart, cunning and as shady as they come, Ashley quickly polarized fans. But one thing everyone seemed to agree on was that her husband, Michael Darby, was the worst. Already married, they came as a packaged deal going into the show. But by the end of the first season, Ashley already had to defend him against talks of inappropriate behavior.
Throughout their marriage, Ashley would continue to stand by Michael many times. They stuck together through his multiple cheating scandals. She even stuck by him when he was charged with allegedly assaulting an RHOP cameraman during filming. The charges were ultimately dropped, but the damage was done. The cast didn’t want anything to do with him. Still, Ashley persisted and they had two kids together.
Now it looks like Ashley is finally ready to move on. She confirmed her split with Michael in a statement to Bravo’s The Daily Dish. Ashley began, “Almost eight years ago, when Michael and I said ‘I do,’ we anticipated sharing every single day together from that moment forward. Unfortunately, that is not our current reality. We have decided to separate.”
She continued, “We are aware that there will be many speculative views as to why we have made this decision. People will be quick to assume that the causes were too much intrusion by reality TV into the most personal parts of our lives, age gap issues, cultural problems, or child-rearing differences. Pieces of all these may have affected our pure love for each other, but no one reason is the root cause of our mutual decision to go our separate ways.”
Ashley explained, “We are now both at very different stages in our lives and have different goals for our futures. We both want the other to achieve true happiness and fulfillment and feel that we cannot do this together.” She went on to discuss their children. Said Ashley, “While our romantic bond is broken, we will always love and respect each other. We also know that true happiness can only be achieved by continuing to work together and putting our hearts and souls into raising our two beautiful boys, Dean and Dylan. They will always feel loved and supported, for they were truly created out of love.”
Ashley then concluded, “As this is a personal matter for us, we appreciate everyone who has been a part of our journey and ask for your continued support by respecting us as we go through this emotional situation.”
So was our girl playing the long game this whole time? Ashley’s staunch support of Michael against cast and fan criticism seemed limitless at times. But she openly discussed the possibility of things not working out a few times on the show. Ashley even previously stated of their marriage, “I am optimistic that we can overcome these hurdles and be stronger in the end, but even if we can’t recover and decide to part ways, I will always cherish him.”
TELL US – ARE YOU SURPRISED THEY ARE BREAKING UP? DO YOU THINK ASHLEY STAYED WITH HIM TO SECURE THE BAG? HOW DO YOU THINK THIS WILL PLAY OUT ON RHOP, WHICH IS CURRENTLY FILMING?
[Photo Credit: Bravo]