The Real Housewives of Potomac’s Stacey Rusch is taking the high road when it comes to critics of her new cannabis brand, Shayo.
Though Stacey previously denied rumors she was starting a cannabis line at the RHOP Season 9 reunion, she announced on Season 10 that she was, indeed, launching a wellness-centered business in that space. As she clarified on the show, however, those discussions did not begin until several months after the reunion taped.
Still, some of her castmates, namely Gizelle Bryant and Ashley Darby, said they weren’t buying Stacey’s timeline.
“I don’t have anything to say to people who criticize my decision to talk about the launch of my brand in my own time,” Stacey clapped back in an exclusive interview with The Daily Dish. “I think that reasonable people and people that have businesses understand the importance of timing. And when I was asked about my brand, I didn’t have it at the time. And now that I do, I’m very excited to share that.”
The former QVC host also highlighted the historical nature of her new career venture.
“I mean, I’ve made history as the first Black woman in the state of Virginia to have a cannabis brand,” she continued. “I can’t be worried about other people. I can only focus on myself and my success.”
As Stacey concluded, “So, I don’t have a response to anyone who rushes greatness.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Stacey reflected on her “phenomenal” cannabis brand launch — and shared that business is already booming.
“It was such a beautiful moment,” she added. “We are thriving in the state of Virginia.”
The RHOP ‘Wife also explained that her main reason for entering the “wellness industry” was that she simply wanted “to help people.”
They include clients “who may suffer, for example, from anxiety; or people who are going through treatment and need help in terms of getting their appetite back; people who have certain personal issues but need a little help maintaining their anxiety or their stress level,” she said.
The timing of Stacey launching her cannabis business came up again during Season 10, Episode 6’s cast trip to Nevis. As the ladies feted Jassi Rideaux ahead of her June 2025 wedding to NFL linebacker Darius Harris, Gizelle and Ashley brought up how Stacey was “asked to be a bridesmaid.”
“I declined because of family reasons, and we talked about that,” Stacey vaguely explained on RHOP‘s Nov. 9 episode.
In a confessional, however, she shared more details about what was really going on behind the scenes.
“My business launch is coinciding with Jassi’s wedding,” Stacey elaborated to a producer. “I want to support my friend, but this is life-changing for me. This is the legacy that I wanna leave to [9-year-old daughter] Arabella. And I wanna be very careful about my decisions. So, my intentions are to be there to support her, but there are a lot of factors at play here.”
As the ladies enjoyed a group meal on the Caribbean island, Jassi said that there were no hard feelings, though: “I love Stacey, and I would love for her to, ya know, be a part as much as she has the capacity to.”
Despite Gizelle and Ashley’s continued skepticism, Stacey insisted that she and Jassi were “good,” before shutting down all their questions and eventually adding, “I feel like I’ve said enough.”
Stacey Rusch during The Real Housewives of Potomac Season 10 Episode 5.
Yes. Jassi and Darius tied the knot just outside Dallas, Texas, on June 6, and Stacey was in attendance, along with several other members of the RHOP inner circle, including Ashley, Wendy Osefo, Jacqueline Blake, and Mia Thornton.
It was a no-brainer for Patricia Altschul to spend a good portion of her new memoir honoring her late butler, Michael Kelcourse.
“He was a family member,” Altschul, 84, exclusively told Us Weekly while promoting her memoir, Eat, Drink, and Remarry: Memories from a Lifetime of Art, Class, and Southern Charm, released on Tuesday, November 11.
“He was the consummate professional, but we also felt like he was a member of our family,” she continued. “He lived here and was with us practically every day. Even on his days off, a lot of times, he wouldn’t want to go any place or do anything but come over and make dinner or play with the dogs.”
Altschul announced Kelcourse’s death in October 2024 with an emotional Instagram post. Kelcourse’s death came years after he suffered a rare acute spinal stroke in February 2021.
“He deserved to be memorialized, and I wanted to do that,” she told Us. “He was with me [for] 18 years. 18 years is a long time.”
Altschul recalled hiring Kelcourse in 2004, after the death of his former boss, who she described as “an ancient dowager who maintained an enormous estate” in New York.
“We met, and I liked everything about him,” she wrote, revealing that Kelcourse was her companion when she was looking at new properties, including Altschul’s iconic Charleston mansion. When Southern Charm premiered in 2014, Kelcourse became a breakout star.
“Michael became the resident expert on cocktails and everything domestic, and so many fans wrote to him for his housekeeping advice that we had to incorporate an ‘Ask Michael’ button on my website,” Altschul recalled.
She also made it clear that they never had a romantic relationship.
“I have trouble writing the words. Did I ever have a romantic relationship with Michael? No … God, no,” Altschul shared. “The relationship between an employer and a butler is completely professional and built on trust and mutual respect. Period. Please don’t ask again.”
All joking aside, Altschul got real when she recalled the morning that Kelcourse had his stroke in her book.
“As he fell to the floor, he pulled the phone down with him and managed to press the ‘All page’ button. ‘Call an ambulance,’ he said into the speaker. ‘I’m having a stroke,’” she wrote. “I was asleep upstairs but woke up when I heard his panicked voice and immediately dialed 911.”
Altschul’s son, Whitney Sudler-Smith, “raced” to Kelcourse’s room and “put a pillow under his head” until the ambulance arrived. The spinal cord stroke left him paralyzed.
“The news of his condition — and the terrible uncertainty of his future — was devastating,” she wrote.Kelcourse moved to a full-time care facility in Florida to be “close to his family” in the years preceding his death.
“Wonderful, dedicated, kind, and exceptional-these were the words people used to describe Michael,” she wrote. “He was all that and so much more.”