Lexi Wood and Jesse Solomon had an explosive romance on season 9 Summer House — but, according to Lexi, the cast was only seeing one side of it.
“From what he was saying, it definitely made the situation and relationship seem really toxic,” Lexi, 27, claimed on iHeartRadio’s “Chanel in the City” podcast, alleging that Jesse, 31, made her out to be a villain to the rest of the Hamptons house.
During season 9 of the Bravo series, Lexi instantly connected with Jesse, and they started dating. However, the cracks in their relationship were evident early on, according to Jesse, who told pals Paige DeSorbo, Ciara Miller and Amanda Batula that Lexi allegedly wanted him to stop commenting on their social media photos.
Jesse also claimed to West Wilson that Lexi asked him to “unfollow” girls on Instagram a few weeks into knowing each other.
Lexi told podcast host and stand-up comedian Chanel Omari that Jesse spilling tea about her to the girls in the house created “distance and a disconnect” between them.
She noted that from her perspective “being communicative in a partnership” shouldn’t be perceived as “a toxic thing” unless it’s portrayed that way. Lexi alleged that Jesse “knew the context” to all her remarks and chose to “give about 2 percent of the truth” and leave out the other 98 percent.
“There was a lot of context that would have made people kind of understand where I was coming from,” Lexi continued. “So I think naturally it just created an isolation for me in the house because it did put our roommates at a weird situation where they were like, ‘OK, well, Lexi’s new, we don’t quite know maybe how to bring this up to her.’”
At one point in the summer, Amanda, 33, and a few other housemates asked Lexi about her relationship with Jesse. At the time, Lexi made it clear that she was not the one pushing to label their romance and it was Jesse who was allegedly forcing the issue.
Lexi also voiced her concerns over Jesse being “flirty” with Ciara, 29, and his decision to suck another woman’s toe when she was out of town. Both incidents became a point of contention between Lexi and Jesse, and he continued to talk about her “orange flags” to his friends.
“I definitely would have broken up with him if I knew all of that, because I do think that that’s disrespectful,” Lexi said of Jesse’s choice to debrief everyone about their troubles behind her back. “I do think that that’s just wrong.”
As Lexi has watched the season unfold, she said it’s become clear Jesse was telling her one thing and the rest of the house another.
“I think Jesse is definitely very charismatic. He knows how to manipulate things that he says, which makes it sound a lot better,” Lexi claimed on the popular podcast. “He definitely knows when to say something and who to say it to for it to kind of spin its own life story.”
The model recalled Jesse telling her he was “in love” with her and “wanted a relationship,” which was the “complete opposite of what everybody else was hearing.”
“Watching [it] back, it’s definitely hurtful to be like, ‘Well, of course, everyone was a little bit, like, keeping me at arm’s length because of everything that you’ve been saying,’” Lexi said.
She acknowledged that it’s “always fair” to talk to your friends but it’s “it’s only fair if you’re also talking to your partner,” which she claimed Jesse didn’t do.
“Building those friendships was really important to me and so kind of being hit with that wall was really difficult and I was really confused all summer,” Lexi confessed to Omari.
According to Lexi, viewers will see Lexi and Jesse’s relationship get “wrapped up in a nice bow” during the Wednesday, May 14, episode of Summer House.
She teased that the end of the summer shows “a lot of strength” on her part. “A lot of standing up for myself while still being able to be that combination between soft and strong,” Lexi added.
Summer House airs on Bravo Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET.
Listen to Lexi Wood’s full “Chanel in the City” episode here.
