In an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, Amanda Lynn is sharing her side of the story for the first time after bringing up cheating claims against Chelsea Lazkani‘s husband, Jeff Lazkani, during a conversation with Bre Tiesi on season 8 of Selling Sunset.
“I wish the whole situation was done differently. I’m not gonna say I wish that Bre did anything differently because I can’t speak for Bre. I wish that maybe Chelsea found out differently,” Amanda explained to Us. “I sympathize with Chelsea. I’ve been cheated on. I feel like any woman who gets cheated on deserves to know.”
“So I feel like I stand by those things, but I’m not happy about the delivery of it.”
Amanda, who is real estate agent with Nest Seekers International, became a major topic of conversation on the latest season of the Netflix series. After calling Bre, 33, with the promise of tea, Amanda claimed that her friend had proof of Jeff’s affair with another woman.
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“The whole situation is unfortunate. I wish she didn’t get cheated on in the first place. Sometimes this is how things go, and it got put in my hands and I did share that information with Bre, who I’ve known forever. And it just happened to be on the show,” she told Us. “When you’re on TV and something like this happens, it comes out eventually in the show. Obviously, it’s a very powerful storyline.”
The drama turned controversial when Chelsea, 31, accused Bre of staging the conversation. (Jeff has yet to publicly address the claims. Chelsea, meanwhile, filed for divorce in March before her marital issues played out on screen.)
“If I could have, I would’ve told Chelsea myself. But I don’t know how to do that. I don’t know Chelsea. And I’m not gonna [direct message] her. I would rather tell Bre and let Bre tell her. And that’s what happened. But the way that it went down was not the greatest,” Amanda explained to Us. “The thing that hurts me is that she thinks that I went there with intent to ruin her or her life. And that’s not true at all. I am not a malicious person. I am a really kind person and I care about everything. So when I do stuff, it’s never coming from a vindictive or evil place.”
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The Selling Sunset newcomer made it clear that she “would never weaponize” a sensitive situation, saying, “I’m friends with Bre. But it was never [meant] to be malicious. I feel bad that this happened to her, but at the same time, it’s not my responsibility. I can only take responsibility for my part in it.”
Amanda added that she initially “refused” to bring the rumors up on the show.
“I wouldn’t bring it up during the lunch. I didn’t bring up anything,” she said of the scene with Bre. “We didn’t plan to go to lunch to take down Chelsea. We went to the lunch just to film and talk about drama. But they [producers] wanted us to share the information about Chelsea.”
“I knew about [the rumors] and then it ended up coming out because we’re there for a while. Once everyone knew about the text, then they wanted to see it. Then that’s how it came out,” she continued. ” I did not go in there and say, ‘Hey, look what I found out about Chelsea.’ That was never how it started.”
Amanda also noted that she was called to film on the show “two months” before she received information about Jeff potentially being unfaithful.
“It was not my intention to bring it up at all because I knew that it was gonna get turned on me,” she noted. “I’m smarter than that. I’m not desperate to get time on the show because I already filmed stuff on the show.”
Before season 8 of Selling Sunset debuted on Friday, September 6, past tweets that included the N-word shared by Amanda over a decade ago resurfaced on social media. Chelsea has since questioned Netflix’s decision to feature Amanda on the show, calling her “racist” online.
“I regret any engagement with harmful language over a decade ago, and it doesn’t reflect who I am today,” Amanda told Us. “I’ve worked hard to grow and understand the impact of words. I take full responsibility and am truly sorry for my past mistake.
“I’m definitely not racist by any means. The tweets are not the best look, and it’s unfortunate. It’s from 12 years ago, even though the time in my heart really makes no difference, because it’s wrong regardless,” Amanda continued. “But it’s definitely not something that I would ever let happen again by any means. I’m not racist. So it’s a hurtful thing, but I’m dealing with it the best way that I can.”
Amanda said it was “very embarrassing” and “ignorant” of her to share the offensive posts.
“I did not write it. I responded to something, and I feel like that’s where I made the mistake. I shouldn’t have even said anything in the first place. I definitely take accountability for anything that I wrote, and I’m gonna grow from it,” she continued. “It’s not gonna happen again. It’s just a very unfortunate thing and it is inappropriate. But again, I’m gonna say over and over that I’m not racist, so I’m going to defend myself however I can.”
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Chelsea has also recently revealed that she wouldn’t return to Selling Sunset if Amanda was involved. Amanda, for her part, told Us that she doesn’t currently have any plans to join Oppenheim Group as a real estate agent.
“I’ve never spoken with them about joining. So who knows what will happen. I’m just really focused on my career,” she noted. “I love where I’m at. I focus and just keep my options open. I’ll say that.”
Amanda is hopeful that Selling Sunset fans will be able to see her perspective.
“I never intended to tear down someone’s family. Truthfully, I’m plenty interesting enough without having to bash someone’s marriage to be on TV. I don’t need to do those things to get on TV when I’m already on it,” she concluded. “Because I know my intention, I feel good with myself. So that is what keeps me good, because I know my intention. If I did it with bad intent, I’d probably be feeling a lot different.”
Selling Sunset is currently streaming.
With reporting by Andrea Simpson
