Congrats on being back on the show after a one-season hiatus. You’ve been doing your media rounds, discussing how you didn’t want people to be able to tell your story for you. We are definitely looking forward to seeing how the rest of the season plays out. Since the last time we saw you, your former producer Sunni is now an integral part of the cast. She’s married to your ex, Moses, and she claims the two of you were never friends. What can you tell us about the extent of your former friendship before this transpired? Were you guys in communication? 

Destiny Payton: We were in communication during the show, after the show, and long after she was let go from the show. So, for me, I guess I have to acknowledge that there wasn’t a friendship based on the things that have been shared by her and the things that have been said publicly. And I understand now that that’s how manipulation works. You make one person feel as if you know your motives are something different than what they actually are. 

We understand you want to tell your story, but at the same time, there are some people who feel like, ‘Why would she even put herself in this situation?’ Has it been uncomfortable for you during filming? 

DP: So what I want to clear up is that I actually was asked back before this situation even hit the airwaves, and it was a struggle for me to even continue to come back or decide to come back. So the yes was already there, or the possibility was already there of me coming back, before this drama. 

And then there were weeks, almost a month of conversations where I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s not it. It’s not what I want to do, and it is not what I want to be a part of.’ And then I found out that they were already filming and telling their stories while I was still negotiating. It was like, ‘Oh, no, you’re not allowed to come back and tell whatever y’all want to tell, and I can’t speak my piece on it.’ 

It’s been uncomfortable. It is not a favorable situation. … It is what it is. I actually never would have talked to these people ever again if they didn’t show up to my job. So honestly and truthfully, I didn’t go to their city. They came to mine.

Will we see you have a conversation with Moses this season?

DP: You shall. 

I know a lot of people think that closure is an imaginary thing. But do you feel like you have any closure from the situation at all?

DP: I had closure before they showed up on my job. I want people to understand that Destiny didn’t say, ‘Let me go talk to these people.’ These people came to Huntsville to talk to me. And so let’s put that out there, and let’s be very clear about that. When Sunni said she texted me and I didn’t respond, that’s all I ever needed. There’s no need to respond. Had he not shown up here in my city, I would have never talked to him again. And as she said, there was no friendship. So what would be the need for me to talk to her, especially after that text message?

Do you feel you’ve had support from your co-stars this season?

DP: I can say for the most part, yes. And shockingly, I’m like, ‘Okay, they actually have my back.’ And I love it. Because I’ve always been the singular cast member. So I appreciate it.

When we first met you on the show, you came in as a friend of Melody’s. 

DP: Mel and Martell.

Your friendship has gone south with Melody. There seems to be a theme on the show that her friendships are not sustainable. Is there something that we’re not seeing behind the scenes about why she has not been able to sustain these relationships with the cast?

DP: 100%. And patterns don’t lie.

What would you attribute that to?

DP: There’s a lot of play on social media. There’s a lot of play on the blogs. It’s clearly coming from one side. And that’s my opinion. I could be wrong, but for me, the only thing that I can speak up on specifically is about our relationship and why it got to the place that it is — because before I was very confused. But as I’ve spoken out about my domestic violence and how I had to come to grips with that being my reality, one of the things that was said in public by Mel was that ‘I knew one side of the story, and now I know the truth. And I’m in support of the other party.’ So for me, it was like, ‘How do you go from supporting a woman, being there for her through those times that she never even discussed publicly, to publicly saying now I know the truth? So for me, it’s kind of hard to bounce back from that.

Now outside of your relationships with your cast members, one of the things that I loved was your journey with your beauty supply store. That has since closed. What would you say were the challenges that we did not see with running a brick-and-mortar?

DP: Well, first, I would like to say I’m grateful to be the first African-American-owned beauty supply store in Alabama and in Huntsville. That wasn’t an easy feat at all. But running a brick-and-mortar and being an entrepreneur, it is just not easy. And I really feel like people sometimes embellish how successful they are in business. But the reality of it is if you’re an entrepreneur and you’ve gotten to any level of success, you have failed. There’s no way that you didn’t have any failures because that’s how you learn and how you get better. 

So for me, I’m grateful for the experience. I’m grateful for what I learned. And a lot of things that you didn’t see was just the behind-the-scenes of what it’s like to run a business, what it’s like to also be on television, but what it’s also like to have to manage and co-manage people. Sometimes they have ulterior motives. And also going through everything that I was going through in my personal life with a divorce, going through COVID 14 days after I opened my brick-and-mortar, being pregnant at that time, having a high-risk pregnancy, and my dad getting cancer shortly after … it was just a lot of ups and downs. And so the energy that I really needed to focus on making that business successful was spread out. And I’m just grateful that I’m still in my right mind.

Social media plays a huge role in this show. I feel like we find out more online than from the actual show. … A lot of people are starting to say that the show has just become extremely toxic. What’s your take on that?

DP: I think that when a group of people are radicalized and there is no control, then yes. But you can also take a stance, and when there’s no stance-taking or you are using those people to kind of like riot for you, it makes it a different world. And I feel like that’s why I really believe in mental health. And I do Mental Mondays with my therapist and life coach. 

I think people are triggered by a lot of things that are happening in the show. And they cling to certain people in certain situations because that’s their own experiences that they haven’t healed from. And so they go into these comments or they start attacking your business, or they start attacking your personal life. And it’s because they can’t see this isn’t a soap opera. It’s like bits and pieces of real life.

Overall, what would you say that you want us to take away from your story this season?

DP: I would say overall that number one, I’m a human being. I go through all types of ebbs and flows of emotions in life. I’m resilient. I’m unbreakable. I’m still here. I’m still standing after all of the things that I’ve been through, and now a new betrayal. And God has kept me. I’m not bitter. I’m not jaded. I still want people to see my heart.