The Real Housewives of Vancouver Cast Blog: Mary Zilba – Round 2

Following each episode, a cast member of The Real Housewives of Vancouver will blog about her experience on the show for Dose.ca. For the eighth episode, Mary Zilba returns to share her thoughts on her feud with Ronnie and Jody and her friendship with Christina.

Real Housewives of Vancouver show has given me the opportunity to see people for who they really are. It’s like a third person perspective. It’s very interesting to be able to view your life in rewind and observe your interpersonal relationships. It is a powerful learning tool and obviously an eye-opener!

I had met Jody a few times before we began shooting the show and my feelings towards her and Mia aren’t really warm. I honestly have never come across anyone like either of them in my life before. It’s very sad and disheartening to me that grown women can act in such a way. It’s almost as if they are void of conscience and empathy. They are just so hateful and hurtful and don’t even have any remorse.

In my opinion, Jody is not a happy person. Her arrogance about herself is overwhelming. I think that it’s great that Jody has worked and followed her passion, however I know other hardworking women and none of them expect applause and praise or belittle other women for choosing a different path in life. These are very successful women who are CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and who have made their way in a man’s world and none of them would ever brag about their success while putting others down.

A successful woman, to me, is a woman who embodies class, intelligence, and the ability to interact with others in in a kind manner and someone who can inspire others to be their best.

I have not said much in my blogs about this yet, but I now feel the need to purge my thoughts on this matter. I have never done a thing to Jody and for some reason, she has had it out for me since the very beginning and taken advantage of my kind nature. She went after Ronnie with a vengeance and was set on coming between us at all costs. I always found it very interesting that she had no respect for Ronnie and my friendship and as time went on, she did nothing but praise Ronnie despite her actions.

My friendship with Ronnie dates back 18 years and, when Ronnie was angry with me for allowing her to have wine at Grace Studios, she decided to tell Jody things that were untrue in order to gain Jody’s support. I had told Jody on several occasions that this was the case and she did not care. The fact that Jody was infuriated by the fact that her heritage was at all in question did bring to mind a Shakespearean quote:“The lady doth protest too much me thinks.” I wouldn’t care whatsoever if someone said I wasn’t Catholic or French.

My biggest issue with friendship is loyalty. I believe you cannot be friends with the enemies of your friends. I live my life in this manner. I would choose to defend a good friend, rather than make a new one. I am not competitive by nature; I celebrate the accomplishments of my friends and do not try to find fault with them. I love my friends and would do anything to help them.

I don’t know why Ronnie consistently likes to dig at me and find fault with me. She will speak despairingly toward me with such malice at times. It has always been this way and there has definitely been a pattern that has been established. I do not copy Ronnie and don’t know why she keeps saying that on the show. We have completely different lifestyle and taste in clothing. The continual reference about me copying heris completely dumbfounded.

I will always wish her well and she’ll always have a special place in my heart regardless of where life takes us.

I suspect that the reason why Ronnie didn’t come clean to Jody about her involvement in the Jewish comment sooner was probably because she wanted to stay friends with Jody and didn’t want to admit to anything that would jeopardize that. Ronnie will often lash out without thinking of the consequences and how it’ll affect others. I know she feels badly after, but it’s hard to erase the damage.

I cherish my friendship with Christina. We met on the show because Ronnie was now with Jody, and Reiko had also joined their team. Christina and I have mutual respect for each other and support each other wholeheartedly. She is a very sweet person and we get along great. There is no jealousy or competitiveness between us – we simply just enjoy each other’s company. I believe we’ll be lifelong friends.

Previous cast blogs:
Episodes 1 & 2 – Christina Kiesel
Episode 3 – Jody Claman
Episode 4 – Reiko MacKenzie
Episode 5 – Mary Zilba
Episode 6 – Jody Claman (Round 2)
Episode 7 – Kevin Chase 

Also:
Top 5 WTFs from Episode 8 (on Canada.com)