Marciano Brunette offered an update on his relationship with Hannah Fouch — and things aren’t looking good.
“The show actually helped our relationship a lot because we were not talking going into the show at all,” Marciano, 31, exclusively told Us Weekly. “Even when Lisa [Vanderpump] had asked about bringing another girl on and I had recommended [Hannah], I still didn’t know if that was a good idea or a bad idea.”
Marciano recalled feeling conflicted about working with Hannah, 28, on Vanderpump Villa, adding, “Even days before us even getting to France and I had known she was going. I was like, ‘I don’t know what’s gonna happen.'”
According to the reality star, things started to fall apart once cameras stopped rolling.
“After the show had settled, I mean, there was a honeymoon phase of us being in a great spot together. Then once that dust settled [there was] ups and downs,” he recalled. “I mean we have a good relationship for the most part. Like I said, we still do work together, so we’re pretty communicative together.”
Hulu viewers got a similar vague response on the Monday, May 20, reunion special for Vanderpump Villa.
“We went back to reality and we weren’t in the honeymoon stage anymore but we are a work in progress,” Hannah said before getting emotional. “I do love him and a lot of people don’t understand that.”
After Lisa asked Hannah whether she had broken up with Marciano, she confirmed that she did. Marciano, for his part, clarified that he didn’t cheat on Hannah and that had nothing to do with why they weren’t currently together.
“Coming back to reality was a very difficult thing for us because when we got back, it didn’t work as best as we thought it would,” he noted before shutting down cheating claims from his Vanderpump Villa costars.
Despite confirming their breakup, Marciano and Hannah put on a united front at the reunion. They sat next to each other and repeatedly defended each other while facing off against their former coworkers.
Before Marciano weighed in on past drama at the reunion, his tumultuous relationship with Hannah became a major topic of conversation because of how much fans compared them to Jax Taylor and Stassi Schroeder from the original seasons of Vanderpump Rules. (Jax and Stassi dated on and off in earlier episodes of Vanderpump Rules before parting ways.)
“I understand the resemblance but we’re nothing like them,” Marciano explained to Us. “To be honest with you, I’ve said this before but I’m completely different than Jax. I’m not gonna say anything bad about him. I don’t know Stassi, unfortunately, but I’ve met Jax.”
Marciano also discussed whether he thought his ups and downs with Hannah were misconstrued on screen.
“It’s not like our relationship can be portrayed in so many different ways. You can see a lot in our relationship even on the show. But outside of the show, I think you can see worse, but you can also see better too,” he noted. “That’s what the show doesn’t really get a whole glimpse of. … We’ve had worse times and they’ve been worse, but you don’t see it. Then there’s times where you see a lot of good.”
Despite Marciano fighting to reconcile with Hannah during season 1, most of their costars weren’t here for it. Everyone elaborated on their individual issues with Marciano and Hannah during the Vanderpump Villa reunion, which was released on Monday alongside the finale.
“The reunion was a really eye-opening experience. It’s something that I thought I was prepared for but I really wasn’t actually. It happened so fast and you’re trying to contain your emotions. While it’s going on it is very difficult because there is a lot that’s happening and there’s a lot of people that I think wanted to get stuff off their chest towards me,” he shared. “I felt like I was in defense mode the whole time. I was in defense mode trying to scramble and trying to pick up the pieces for myself. It was really tough to try and navigate through it all. But I think at the end of the day, I did get my opinions out there as best as I could.”
Marciano told Us he was curious to see how the Hulu special would be cut together.
“I thought it was a really good experience though. And I think it was good for the group as well. I think a lot of questions, but then it’ll also hopefully give you a better idea of maybe the rest of the group that you didn’t see,” he teased. “Because I feel like you don’t see a lot of everyone so we’ll see how it plays out.”
All episodes of Vanderpump Villa — and the reunion – are available to stream on Hulu.
