She found love again after splitting from her husband James Bergener last year.
Now Noella Bergener has revealed how she met her new beau.
Speaking exclusively with DailyMail.com at the DirecTV Drag Bowl, Noella revealed she met her boyfriend three years ago during dinner with friends before really connecting with him in lockdown.
Touchdown! Noella Bergener and Ashley Darby spoke exclusively with DailyMail.com at the the DirecTV Drag Bowl on Sunday
‘So we actually met like three years ago, and he was friends with Dennis Rodman who is at a dinner table at Maestro’s,’ she explained.
‘I saw him, he had a very interesting table, I was at a very interesting table, our friends who knew each other kind of interconnected, and afterwards the invite came out during COVID. There was nothing going on in Orange County, everything was shut down, so we like we heat the pool, heat up the barbeque, invite cool interesting people over, and he came over with friends.
‘I even tell him, “you’re so cool, you’re one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met, by far in Orange County, what are you doing here? Like why are you here, you’re too cool to be here.” COVID after parties definitely were very useful.’
‘Again, I was married then. It was only when the husband left,’ she clarified.
‘Those COVID after parties were definitely very useful’: Speaking exclusively with DailyMail.com at the DirecTV Drag Bowl, Noella revealed she met her boyfriend three years ago during dinner with friends before really connecting with him in lockdown
Touchdown! Also attending the bash was Real Housewives Of New York star Sonja Morgan
Noella joined the housewives just a year ago but it has been a ‘difficult journey’ for her with a series of heartbreaks unfolding in her personal life.
‘It’s been a very wild ride,’ Noella said of being a housewife. ‘It was a difficult journey for me, and it’s not necessarily about housewives as much as it’s about my life fell apart. My son was diagnosed with being on the spectrum, my husband left, my father passed away, and that just happened to be what was captured on my first experience… it was a challenging four months,’ she said.
‘It’s been a great reminder of how resilient we can be and how strong we can be and that old adage of God only gives what you can handle.’
Similarly, Ashley has also learned a lot about herself starring on the Real Housewives Of Potomac – including how to brush off the trolls.
‘It has been a very wild ride’: Noella joined the Housewives just a year ago but it has been a ‘difficult journey’ for her with a series of heartbreaks unfolding in her personal life
Strike a pose: Sonja wowed in a low-cut black dress while Noella showed her support for the Rams in gold and blue
‘It’s par for the course at this point and honestly I think you’re not doing your job if you’re not getting a little something because you just can’t please everyone and if you are pleasing everyone, that means you’re probably not being true to yourself,’ she told DailyMail.com
‘It took me a while, I know I’m saying it like, “Oh, so sage,” it’s taken me six years… After I had my son Dean, I really felt that. I’ve always believed and said to myself, but then I felt it like, “That really doesn’t affect me”… It doesn’t affect my day to day, so why let it affect how I feel?’
Ashley has also her new ‘purpose’ in life – to ‘uplift and inspire’ fellow mothers and women. ‘I feel it strongly,’ she said.
‘It’s coming more into focus now,’ she said of her mission. ‘I really do love people in general, even if I have disagreements and stuff with people, even the people I argue with, like Candiace and I, I know we’ve had so many ups and downs, and it’s been really tumultuous between us, but at the end of the day, I still love her as a person. I’ve come a long way.’
‘That doesn’t mean I’m perfect and I won’t snap off, because the reality is I still have feelings, I’m still not going to let someone take advantage of me, but just kind of detaching a little bit and just saying like, “Even if I don’t like you, and I don’t like what you said, I still just love you as a person.”‘
Having a blast! The Housewives spent the Super Bowl partying at the DirecTV Drag Bowl
Party time! The Bravo stars embraced the spotlight as they posed for the camera