RHOSLC's Whitney Rose Says She Wants to 'Stand Out': 'If That Makes Me a Villain, Then I Guess I'm a Villain' (Exclusive)

Whitney Rose accepts everything that happens to her.

The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star, 38, recently spoke with PEOPLE about Season 5 of the hit Bravo series. So far, Whitney has been a central figure in the drama, and she says it’s because she’s finally found her voice and the confidence to stand up for herself.

“It was a lot of years of being burned and screwed over by people,” she reflects. “It’s really hard for me to put myself first because I always hate conflict. I hate making people upset. Despite being watched on the show, I don’t like to upset people. I can hold my own. I can stand up for myself and a lot of the time I stand up for a lot of people, but I never stand up for myself.”

“When people see that change, they don’t know what to do,” she adds. “Then I do it now with confidence. I’m not giving up because for the first time in my life I can say that I love who I am and I will never take that away from me.”

RHOSLC: Lisa Barlow throws down the glass and accuses Whitney Rose of being a ‘liar’: ‘I’ll be your villain’

Whitney Rose at BravoCon 2023.

Trae Patton/Bravo via Getty

While she admits that “I don’t see myself as the villain this season,” Whitney doesn’t care if she’s labeled as such. She says that with her newfound empowerment, she expected people to change their minds about her.

“I think if we’re going to rely on the villain thing, I think it’s just because we want to stand out,” she says. “[I] I don’t want to be like everyone else. If that makes me a villain, then I guess I am a villain.”

Lisa Barlow teases the upcoming RHOSLC ‘Most Famous Ever’ Season: ‘We’re Going to Blow It All Away’ (Exclusive)

This season brought a feud between Whitney and Lisa Barlow after Whitney overheard Lisa spreading rumors about the validity of her jewelry line on social media gossip accounts — a claim that Lisa denied. A recent episode even saw the conflict spill over to their husbands, who nearly got into a physical fight after Lisa called Whitney a “liar.”

“It saddens me to see her, how mean she was and her constant need to slander me and talk bad about me and my husband,” says Whitney. “I think that says more about her than me. But I feel sad for her. I don’t understand why he feels like he needs to do that. It’s not a good look, and it doesn’t affect me in any way. I’m kind of used to it now, but she took it to a whole new level on the show and on social media. It’s really disgusting.”

“I have tried many times to repair the relationship with her over the years,” she states. “And especially after this, I even told her, I said, ‘I asked if you did it. I didn’t accuse you. I asked.’ My experience with her is that she is incapable of listening. I’ve never seen her take responsibility for anything because she just has to be right. He calls me a liar, but he can’t prove what I’m lying about.”

Whitney Rose (left) and Lisa Barlow.

Charles Sykes/Bravo via Getty Images

Whitney says she thinks Lisa is attacking her “feelings,” but “you can’t lie about your feelings.”

Now that she’s learned to prioritize, Whitney says repairing their friendship is no longer her priority.

“I realized that people-pleasing is self-sabotage,” she explains. “Every season, [Lisa] he had an argument with a friend. People who get back with her, it’s almost like she just wears you out on it. It’s easier to just say, ‘You know what? You’re right.’”

“I’m just not willing to make any more sacrifices for a relationship that’s initially one-sided,” she says of Lisa, who threatened to sue Whitney over the claims in a recent episode RHOSLC. “I hope he will carefully consider all his friendships as I have, [and sees] that everyone tells her the same thing. It happens more than once this season. So at that point you have to quote Taylor Swift: ‘Hi, it’s me. I’m the problem.’ But not everyone wants to work on themselves like that.”

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The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City airs Wednesdays at 9pm ET on Bravo.

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Source: HIS Education