Lilly Ghalichi Talks Shahs Of Sunset Drama- “A Fine Line Between Love and Hate”
Lilly Ghalichi is a lawyer, an entrepreneur, a mom, a businesswoman, an author, and an all around success. Recently, I
Ivy Griffith
Lilly Ghalichi is a lawyer, an entrepreneur, a mom, a businesswoman, an author, and an all around success. Recently, I sat down to speak with her about life during the pandemic, her daughter’s birthday, her thoughts on Shahs of Sunset, and what she has ahead for Lilly Lashesand her other beloved brands.
Today, I’m sharing the first part of this two-part interview, where we talked about life during pandemic as a mom of a toddler, and she let me pick her brain about Shahs of Sunset.
Quarantine and Mom-ing
I opened our conversation by asking about life during COVID-19. As a mother of a young child during quarantine and all that’s gone on this year, I wanted to know how she’s faring and what it’s been like for her.
Ghalichi began with sharing that, “I’m a very risk averse person. So in the beginning, I was that extra careful, paranoid person that was not allowing groceries in her house; I would wipe them down with Clorox wipes, and we put all the fruit in the sink and washed it with soap. So I was taking it extra, extra seriously. And since then, I think we know a lot more about the virus. We know how we can get it, and how we can’t get it. So, I’ve relaxed a lot more and obviously I’m being careful, but I’m trying to live my life as normally as possible. Especially for my daughter.”
Ghalichi continued sharing that “I think it’s so important at her age that they interact with other children as just a part of their learning and development. And she’s an only child, so it makes me sad that I have to keep her home. She was supposed to start at her preschool In September, the Toddler and Me program and they’ve canceled them. We try to go and do our own sort of school with some neighborhood kids every day. And so we’re trying our best to live as normal life as possible while still mindful and careful.”
Toddlers Don’t Understand a Pandemic
I agreed that it’s tough for the little ones because they just don’t understand, and they have all these big firsts coming up. And that things are so different right now.
Agreeing, Ghalichi continued, “They don’t understand, you’re right. Like we take her to the park. And she cries. We just take her to play on the grass, and she doesn’t understand why she can’t go to the swing or the slide. And why is it taped off with yellow tape. She cries tears, like, ‘I want to swing, I want to slide!’ And it’s really hard at their age because you can’t explain to them.”
“At least they won’t remember it,” Ghalichi continued, reflecting on how young children will recall this pandemic time-period in years to come. “We’ll remember the days of masks and sterilizing groceries for the rest of our lives.”
On Shahs of Sunset, Lilly Has Some Thoughts
Seeing as Ghalichi was one of the original cast members of Shahs of Sunset, I couldn’t help asking Ghalichi about the show and if she still spoke to anyone from it.
“I speak to Gigi almost daily,” Ghalichi began by sharing. “I speak to Reza, I speak to Mike. And Gigi was actually at my daughter’s birthday party two days ago, and she brought her son Elijah.”
“It was a very small party,” Ghalichi continued sharing regarding her daughter’s birthday party. “I only invited 10 kids because of the pandemic. I didn’t want to make it too big. He was one of the 10 kids that we invited.”
Ghalichi had more to say on the Shahs, noting that “It’s funny because when I was on the show, I really wasn’t close to any of them. And I didn’t have a connection with any of them beyond the show. But since leaving the show, I formed real friendships. Number one with Gigi. Secondly, Reza. Third, Mike. And they’re like real friendships that we speak almost daily.”
“And, you know, Gigi is going to bring her son over for more playdates and swim classes,” Ghalichi added. “My daughter actually gave her son his very first kiss at her birthday party. She climbed up a slide, grabbed him and kissed him right on the lips.”
Ghalichi shared coming was a big step for Gigi as “It was the first time she’s ever taken her baby out of the house.”
Ghalichi then addressed who she doesn’t speak to from the cast, detailing “MJ, obviously, and Asa. And that’s about it, because they were all of the cast members when I was on.”
Shahs Drama Comes From a Place of Love
Seeing as we were on the topic of Shahs, I couldn’t help bringing up the explosive drama between MJ and Reza that played out last season.
Sounding somber, Ghalichi said thoughtfully of the drama that, “You know, I don’t know all the details. I didn’t watch the season in full so I can’t have too much of an opinion. But what I do know is that those two are best friends and worst enemies. Right? You know, there’s a fine line between love and hate. So I think that they love each other tremendously. But when they do fight it goes to the opposite end of the spectrum to hate.”
“I think now there’s someone else in the picture, too,” Ghalichi continued sharing. “MJ has a husband and so you fight with a wife, you’re fighting with her husband too. I did see a scene where he showed up to Reza’s house and smashed some things in his backyard. That to me is just completely unacceptable and not something that should ever happen. Be more in control of yourself than to resort to violence.”
“So you know, I don’t know what to say other than that,” Ghalichi added. “I actually saw on your page in my Instagram feed that they reconciled.”
Mentioning an exclusive story CELEB shared yesterday about the pair reconciling, Ghalichi responded that, “I mean, that’s good, because love is always better to have than hate. But like I said, when you’re that close to someone, it’s a really fine line. And if one person betrays the other, it can very quickly turn. I’m not surprised. I mean, MJ hates me, MJ hates lots of people.”
Next, I asked Ghalichi’s thoughts on why Asa was let go from the show, Ghalichi responded, “That’s a great question. And my answer is gonna have no knowledge behind it. Because I’ve never asked Gigi, I’ve never asked Reza, I’ve never asked Mike. So I have no idea. This is just my opinion.”
“I think that there were many parts of Asa’s life that were very private to her and very sacred to her, like her partnership with her spouse, and her baby,” Ghalichi went on to explain. “And I think it’s hard to be authentic on a reality show, when you’re not sharing such big parts of your life.”
“And so I feel like I don’t even know if she willingly quit the show or if she was let go of the show,” Ghalichi added. “I don’t even know. But if she was let go, my guess would be that maybe she didn’t share enough about her private life, which is – when you sign up to do a reality show, it’s a job and that job is to share your life. There really are no private parts of your life anymore.”
Ghalichi had more to say on Asa’s departure, noting that “I don’t know – they weren’t married then. I don’t know if they’re married now. But like, basically her husband and her child, that is your life. So, you know, I get it.”
Lilly Lashes and 250K Birthday Parties
From there, our conversation turned to other topics. We spoke at length about her brands and what they have planned for this year, and what her daughter’s second birthday party was like. Ghalichi even answered the question on everyone’s minds- would she consider returning to Shahs?
Make sure to check back tomorrow for part two of this interview with Lilly Ghalichi as we talk Lilly Lashes, being an entrepreneur, and a potential return to Shahs.